Category: inspiration

The Cave You Fear

47789_16x9
“The cave you fear to enter holds the treasure you seek.” – Joseph Campbell

You are going to have to venture places you’ve never been.

You are going to have to go places you are afraid to go.

You are going to have to do things that scare you.

If you don’t, what you might find is you will settle for a life that is less than what you hoped for. Nobody achieves what they want from settling. We are capable of doing and being so much, yet too many times fear holds us back.

But imagine, even if just for a second, what would happen if you entered the cave you feared. Imagine the adventure, imagine the experience, imagine the “treasure.”

Anything worth doing is going to be hard work. Yet, too many people want to follow the path of least resistance. We activity choose the safe journey, the way with the least amount of risk, but they then wonder why life is unfulfilling.

Life is challenging, it is also constant. So in theory, it makes sense to play it safe. But theory is not reality. In fact, they can be opposites. Playing it safe can often be risky in itself.

However, to grow and be fulfilled in this life, we need to stop only doing what is comfortable, stop avoiding our fears, and face it head on. So pursue that dream, take that chance, go out on that limb. Because that risk you need to take will be the only way to get what you want.

What cave are you afraid to enter?

Story-formed

We all have a story to tell. Everyone.

We sometimes forget that. We don’t mean to, it’s just in our nature to be self-centred. When you walk into a coffee shop or restaurant, all those people are not just extras, background for your story. They each have a story to tell.

But as a Christian, there is another belief about stories I hold: That everyone’s story intersects with God’s story. God can speak into everyone’s story. It doesn’t matter where you’re from or what your story is.

As we live out the rhythms of our lives, we need to realise that everyone lives in the light of a larger story. We are not the centre of the universe, the world is not just the setting and background to our story. Our story is just one that is a part of the story God is trying to tell.

Intolerable

This is something that even I struggle with this. Every day I walk by people I know aren’t believers, but just shoving a Bible in their face and telling them to believe is not going to work. Conversion is people work, and it is messy work. Lots of walls need to be torn down, lots of assumptions need to be changed. And let’s be honest, just relating with someone because you want them to convert is a sucky way to build a relationship. That is not how Jesus wants us to connect with others.

But still, if we allowed it to become intolerable to us, I think we would become more bold. I think we would stop letting the enemy create an atmosphere of complacency in our relationships. I think we would love them even more.

But don’t let that love or friendship have the ulterior motive of conversion, “I’m only friends with this non-believer because I want them to come to Christ.” NO. We need to genuinely love and care for them and adopt the mindset of “Yes, I will always be your friend, even if you never come to Christ, but know that I will always pray and hope that one day you will.”

Who is one person you need to pray for? Who do you want to know the joy and comfort of following Jesus? Now, how are you going to pursue that goal whilst still loving them unconditionally?

Quantity creates Quality

The old saying when talking about work, especially creative work is “Quality over Quantity.” In a sense, focus on creating the best work possible instead of many subpar works.

But that’s not really how it ends up working. Think about it. There are so many industries where people have to create works or produce something on a regular basis. Some as common as monthly, weekly, or even daily. They have to produce something or else nothing goes out and you lose fans or audience.

But many of these people who produce extremely regularly end up producing things that are better quality than if they spent an entire year creating one thing.

Let take TV shows for instance, YOUR favorite TV show even… American mainstream television usually generates anywhere between 10-25 episodes a season. There are some shows that have over 100 episodes, 200 episodes even! Not every single episode is gold. Not every single episode is the best. But from time to time, because they have to produce on a regular basis, they end up creating something that is memorable. They end up producing an episode that is considered one of the best ever.

But that didn’t happen because they spent more and more time to perfect the episode. Many TV shows have a short schedule for each episode. They need to produce the quantity that is required of them.

But in having to produce quantity, they will end up creating quality.

The more you write the better you get, the more pictures you take the better photographer you become, the more you paint the better artist you end up being.

And in creating quantity, your creative “juices” get flowing and all of a sudden you come up with an idea that you never would have if you were stuck on creating that one “quality” work. And who knows, that new idea might be a million times better than the one you have been working on for ages.

So go out there… Create. Produce quantity so that one day you can begin to create quality.

Half-formed ideas

Have you ever had a half-formed idea? You know what I’m talking about. An idea that isn’t fully developed and probably requires time for a good think to finish creating this concept in your head.

The problem with having an active mind AND wanting to write regular blog posts is having too many half-formed ideas.

I have plenty of thoughts, but they aren’t collected or organized. But the hard part is taking these half-formed ideas and making them in to fully realized ideas that I can coherently talk or write about.

But that would require that I stop having the TV on all time, or stop paying attention to my phone. It would require that I be alone… in my thoughts… and think deeply.

*shutters*

While I am only half joking, this is a real problem for many (and sometimes myself). We as a culture have sometimes become so non-confrontational that we don’t even want to sit alone in quiet because of what we might have to confront ourselves.

How else are we supposed to grow though? How else are supposed to be creative? Do we really want to go through life, just ignoring ourselves, or think a year later, I had a great idea once I never followed through with.

No.

The quiet is not our enemy. Take some time and fully form ideas and thoughts. Take some to turn everything off around you so you can confront yourself and grow.

You’ll thank yourself for it later.