“Eighty percent of success in life is just showing up” – Woody Allen.
This past weekend was Homecoming at my Bible college and it was also my twenty year class reunion (Yes, I am that old!). At first I thought, “I don’t want to go. I do not keep in touch with any of those people. Why would I give up a whole weekend to travel up there to see people that I have nothing to do with anymore. Oh sure, I may have received a few nasty emails from people who were expecting me to be there, but so what? I am an adult and I can decide what I want to do, or, in this case, not do, right?”
Then I began to wonder, “What if it is important for me to go? What if I would really enjoy catching up with all those people again? Maybe it would be fun after all! Maybe I would find that it was worth the effort to show up.”
Guess what happened: I went and I had a good time!
In 2004, country singer Keith Urban released an album called “Be Here”. The chorus of the first song on the CD, “Days go by”, sums up the theme of the entire album when it says, “you better start livin’ right now”. In other words, you only get one chance to live your life and experience things, so make the best of it.
I wonder how many good things we have let slip by simply because it seemed like too much effort to “show up” and “Be there”. As we have pointed out many times in this space, “The important things rarely seem urgent and the urgent things are rarely important”. Which one are you focused on?
Easter weekend is a time when many think about “important things” rather than just “urgent ones”. One of the important things to think about is the reunion that is going to take place at the end of time. First Thessalonians four says, “The Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. Therefore encourage each other with these words” (verses 16-18).
It is my hope and prayer that you will “Be there” and “show up” for that reunion.
May nothing in the world keep you from it.
This past weekend was Homecoming at my Bible college and it was also my twenty year class reunion (Yes, I am that old!). At first I thought, “I don’t want to go. I do not keep in touch with any of those people. Why would I give up a whole weekend to travel up there to see people that I have nothing to do with anymore. Oh sure, I may have received a few nasty emails from people who were expecting me to be there, but so what? I am an adult and I can decide what I want to do, or, in this case, not do, right?”
Then I began to wonder, “What if it is important for me to go? What if I would really enjoy catching up with all those people again? Maybe it would be fun after all! Maybe I would find that it was worth the effort to show up.”
Guess what happened: I went and I had a good time!
In 2004, country singer Keith Urban released an album called “Be Here”. The chorus of the first song on the CD, “Days go by”, sums up the theme of the entire album when it says, “you better start livin’ right now”. In other words, you only get one chance to live your life and experience things, so make the best of it.
I wonder how many good things we have let slip by simply because it seemed like too much effort to “show up” and “Be there”. As we have pointed out many times in this space, “The important things rarely seem urgent and the urgent things are rarely important”. Which one are you focused on?
Easter weekend is a time when many think about “important things” rather than just “urgent ones”. One of the important things to think about is the reunion that is going to take place at the end of time. First Thessalonians four says, “The Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. Therefore encourage each other with these words” (verses 16-18).
It is my hope and prayer that you will “Be there” and “show up” for that reunion.
May nothing in the world keep you from it.
Comments