Tension

Just had a quick chat with a friend about the tension that exists when you’re forced to live somewhere between where you are and where you want to be.

I’m overweight but not content to stay that way. I’m weak but can’t help but imagine myself as strong. I’ve lost my voice but remember when it could sing.

There are all sorts of times in our lives when we live in the tension between who we are and who we want to be.

On those days there are all sorts of questions you have to ask yourself.

Is where I am really that bad? Is where I’m going worth the effort? and when I arrive, will I look back and wonder why I did it all in the first place? or will i look back with pride and accomplishment, and with a sense of realization of the substance of those things i had only hoped for on the way?

Does anyone ever get to live fully funded, or run their business fully staffed, or any parent begin their day fully rested?

I really didn’t have any sage advice to offer my friend during that conversation, but it did get me thinking about what i need to do with the tension of living in the present gets too tight and my blood pressure starts to rise.

The more i think about it, the more i think it’s all about focusing on tomorrow, while keeping my feet moving today. Who i want to be tomorrow, is what motivates my actions today. I want to be a better man, a thinner man, and more manly a man tomorrow. That doesn’t change who i am today, but it can change what i do today.

Hebrews 11:1 says, “Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.”

I love that verse because i’ve always wanted to live by faith and walk by faith. I don’t want to simply live up to what i have achieved. (that’s a great place to start!) but i want to live by faith. Sure of what i hope for and certain of what i do not yet see.

Living by faith means i build into my life the practices that will get me places i have not been yet.

I take steps that lead me further than i’ve ever gone before. I lift weight that is more than i could have lifted yesterday but not as much as i’ll lift one day soon.

Cause the tension i feel today is not cause I shouldn’t press on to win the prize, or become who i want to become. The tension is just God’s reminder that i wasn’t meant to live where I am today. I was meant for a better place, down the road. One of the things I love about working at Redwood is that the guys I work with make me better than i was before.

Here’s to living in the tension with great friends! Here’s to six packs and Ray Bans and Timbuk3!