Poets & SaintsSample

Present, Courageous, & Authentic

When you’re tempted to think you have little worth or nothing of value to offer, remember this: We’re meant to write, sing, sculpt, design, craft, parent, clean, and study in our own way. No one else’s. We aren’t duplicators; we’re interpreters. The goal is never to live someone else’s life. We’re meant to give back to the world out of our own stories, whatever they may be.

Whether or not we see it, we’ve each been invited to participate in the love story of God. We each have something to contribute. We have good works to live out, deeds prepared a long time ago in a Kingdom close at hand.

MacDonald believed we are daily living into God’s sculpted image for us. Perhaps this is why he chose to stay in motion and keep writing.

There were times his family was on the brink of starvation. He kept writing.

With his diseased lungs, he had difficulty breathing. He kept writing.

He loved being in the moment, but those moments faded. No matter. They were worth writing about.

There is hope in this. We can get distracted with all the reasons why it’s too difficult to give ourselves to our work. Financial pressure, pain, rationalization, procrastination—these are all obstacles.

I believe the greatest struggle for many of us is simply perfectionism. We can get paralyzed creating anything of value when we fail to realize that we’ll only ever be partially successful. Something can always be better.

This is not to say we must dismiss excellence or be content with mediocrity, but rather we must accept that perfection is only God’s to own. And it’s impossible for us to know what God is really up to over the long haul.

What would it be like to give up achieving perfection today and instead live into only what God has in mind for you to be? Today. Not worrying about tomorrow. Letting tomorrow take care of itself. Simply and contentedly allowing yourself to be formed into today’s “gradation.”

Editing reel-to-reel films in college didn’t seem relevant to my calling to be in church ministry. What I didn’t know, however, was that during the countless hours I spent editing, my eye was being trained to notice the nuances and beat patterns of story. I couldn’t have foreseen that years later when I was studying and teaching the Bible, my eye would pick up those same patterns. Stories came to life for me in ways they didn’t for others.

While I was making minimum wage in a film booth, my teaching skills were being honed.

I believe this is true regardless of the station, the job, or the circumstances we’re in. We’re the beneficiaries of the moment. Would we but rein in our striving and cease our complaining, we would have eyes to see the value that surrounds us.

I’m not saying that dreams are unimportant. I’m saying that the moment you’re in has greater significance than you can possibly imagine.

What is in front of you right now?

Some of us, preoccupied with the careers we long for, fail to value the careers we’re in. Others, in their longing for another child, or in their grief for a child who has passed on, are looking past the child standing right in front of them. Hug that child. Look into his or her eyes.

“[MacDonald’s] peace of mind came not from building on the future but from resting in what he called ‘the holy Present.’”

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