Day 6: When it takes bravery to be all where you are.

I am a dreamer. I am a big picture optimist. Sometimes a dreamer like me with a heart full of aspirations needs to learn how to be fully present.

Wherever you are, be all there! Live to the hilt every situation you believe to be the will of God. 

{Jim Elliot}

Some days your head tells you where God wills you to be.

Abide in me, He says. Stay and dwell where you are and through me bear fruit.

But your mind and heart don’t always agree.

Lately, my heart is heavy. Haggard and exhaustion are knocking on the door of the present, whispering to me to give up. They offer dreaming not as a gift, but an escape.  It’s an invitation to dwell in discontent and dissatisfaction.  It’s tempting to dwell on the things that could be, that maybe life would be easier/better/happier if I were someplace else.

Yet wouldn’t this discontent just find me again, luring me into daydreaming in the world of could be? It would be a matter of time.

Bravery sometimes means facing what scares you, makes you tired, and deciding to stick with it anyway. Bravery means ignoring the urge to daydream your disillusionment away. Bravery means taking those heavyhearted thoughts and simply asking my Father what He thinks about them.

Abide in me, He says. Stay and dwell where you are and through me bear fruit.

Stay, abide, pray, persevere. This is the will of God for me now. Here is where I will remain and bear fruit. Here is where I will choose and where I will dig down deep my roots of contentment.

It takes bravery to be all where you are.