Wherever you are … be all there.
It’s easy to “be all there” when where I am is a good place to be.
When life is going my way. When circumstances are favorable. When all’s well with the world — and when my relationships are peaceful and easy.
But being all there — and staying there — when life is careening out of my control? When the longed for yes is an unwanted and unyielding no? Well, sometimes that’s when I go looking for the EXIT.
The times when I am able to stay … to be all there when I really, really want to be somewhere else — that’s when I learn the most. When I change the most. When I see the things … or the people … or the hidden truth that I might have missed if I’d walked away.
Being all there is about doing life on purpose. Paying attention. Being all there costs you something. But it also gives you something in return: experience. Life change. Understanding. Appreciation.
In Your Words: How do you ensure that you’re “all there” in the day to day of your life? What have you learned by doing life on purpose and paying attention?
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Comments 6
Interesting question. “Not being all here” is only a pill or two away, but I don’t take them.
Part of the reason’s financial, but there’s a deeper and more compelling reason – I’ve been down that road, and it leads to a sort of spiritual oblivion that I do not wish to face again.
To say that the pain is here for a reason, that I have things to learn from it, that it’s part of God’s purpose…all of those things were true at one point, but it’s gone so far past that watershed that they’ve become shibboleths. This is something to be endured, with as vicious and truculent an attitude as that of the enemy which is attacking me.
And yet, pain is the better of two evils, because this has become personal, and the choice to escape from it., to dive into that oblivion, is to dive into the depths of cowardice and dishonor.
So, I am here, and I am truly here. Not the better for it, perhaps, but neither am I emasculated.
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Andrew:
I understand the choice not to take pain pills. I’m allergic to all aspirin-based meds, so that limits me. But there were some meds I could have taken for my back pain — and I said no. Because I understood how people could become addicted to stuff like that. I didn’t think I would … but just opted out, you know? Which of course, meant I was “all there” for the back pain … but it was my choice.
I love this quote and was privileged to know some of Jim Elliott’s cousins–and now to teach in the Univ. of Northwestern-St. Paul where Roger Youderian graduated.
I do believe God has given me the gift of wherever I am being all there, and I enjoy that, and His surprises and fresh connections to the hilt. (And I’m understanding today what “to the hilt” means…)
Author
And once again, I am not surprised that you knew some of Jim Elliot’s cousins … you know so, so many people … or should I say so, so many people are blessed to know you?
🙂
I like this post, Beth. Your question is one I grapple with daily. Am I all there in each moment? Admittedly, it’s hard when the kids are being willful. I’d rather just tune out. But, sometimes it’s in the purposing to be all there in the hard moments that I grow, and can see what’s going on with an accurate perspective. I can also be a reflection of Jesus to the boys, if I am all there. I don’t know if this makes sense. I guess it’s just where I am this week. 🙂
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🙂
Yes, there are times when opting out seems the better choice … but I look back and realize I missed things — and people and learning experiences that way.
So I’m more “all there” than I used to be.