Wherever we go, there we are. . .

I first heard this little homily at a workshop in Minneapolis, presented by Earnie Larson, a former priest, author for Hazelden Publishing, and renowned lecturer.  He was a gifted man who’s simple message turned life around for tens of thousands of people.   Perhaps even millions.  I know that it stopped me in my tracks when I heard him utter that simple phrase more than three decades ago.  It told me, in no uncertain terms, that if I wanted to show up differently in my relationships, or in any other venue of my life, I had work to do.  But I also heard him say the work was manageable.

What lucky folks we are.  There are so many books and classes, lectures and workshops, blogs and newsletters that are all focused on helping us become our better selves.  That’s the intent of the work I do too.  I want those who turn the pages of my books or come to one of my workshops to be strengthened and convinced that they can change in whatever way seems necessary or preferable.  We can be all that we want to be.  Our better self is waiting for us to claim it.

I truly believe that to be the case for each of us.  We too often simply sit on the sidelines, waiting on someone else to change so our life can feel easier.  That’s not the plan God has for us though.  We must instigate the change.  And whatever we think we can do, we can.  That’s why the idea came to us in the first place.

Believing, as I do, that nothing occurs to us that we can’t manage is extremely reassuring.  Ideas don’t land in our minds willy-nilly.  They choose us, I think.  We don’t have to act on them, however.  But if we want to grow into the people we are being groomed to be, why not take the idea and run with it?  Being our better self is directly related to this idea that has visited us.  I thought about writing a book about journaling many years ago.  It was clearly formed in my mind but I didn’t pursue the idea.  Another woman did.  And her book was similar in most respects to the one I had considered writing.  I decided, then and there, to act when an idea came, particularly when it was an idea that I believed had merit for my life and the lives of others too.

It really doesn’t matter that another person wrote the book I had considered writing.  What does matter is that I learned a valuable lesson.  God is always trying to get our attention.  When ideas for our growth, the purpose for which we have been born, come to us, pay attention.  They are the assignments we may unknowingly be waiting for.  Move toward them.  Now.