Do you know where you are?
It might sound like a weird question, but one of the hardest things to do in life is to come to terms with where we are. Not where we were six months ago. Not where we’d like to be. But where we are right now, right here, today.
On a basic level, we have a hard time living in the moment. We spend a lot of our brain space on where we’ve been and where we want to be. Knowing where you are in life means planting your feet in the here and now.
We see this difficulty in lots of areas in our lives, and one that is familiar to must of us is the love-hate relationship we have with our bathroom scale (okay…so there might be a little more hate than love).
You know that feeling, especially around the holidays. You’ve been meaning to lose that weight, but the last thing you want to do is step on the scale. You know it’s what you need to do, but you avoid it. You don’t even want to keep staring at it on your bathroom floor. So you move it out of the bathroom and into the closet. You’ve got to hide it from yourself. (Because everybody knows that if you can’t see your problems, they don’t exist…right?) Some of us might even throw the scale away.
Truth is, we can’t lose weight if we won’t step on the scale. We don’t step on the scale because we don’t want to see that number, but that number is just the starting line.
The same thing is true in our lives.
Every one of us has a starting line that we need to face up to. All of us have areas where we need a little self-assessment. If you don’t know where you are, you’re going to get lost on the way to where you’re going.
What area do you need a little self-assessment in? Maybe it’s your job, your education, your finances, your physical health, your family, or your emotional health. Our life is full of buckets, and managing those buckets requires us to live right here, right now.
While that might sound scary, it’s actually great news. Because Jesus is right here, right now, and he is constantly inviting us to join him here.
Therefore do not worry about tomorrow,
for tomorrow will worry about its own things.
Sufficient for each day is its own trouble.
Matthew 6:34
Jesus is not afraid of your starting line. He’s not shocked by where you are in life. He wants to lead you on. All that is required of you is to let him do his good work in you. If we never take stock of where we really are, we won’t realize our need for Jesus to take us any further.
So where are you? And where is Jesus leading you? If you don’t know, take some time with just you and Jesus. Sit with him, and let him show you where you are and where you’re going. Write it down and save it, and one day, you’ll look back and see just how far you and Jesus have walked together.