“Not reaching your potential is like dying with the music still inside you.”
I married the love of my life at a crazy young age. Can you believe my momma let me get married at 20 YEARS OLD? Yep, you read that right. . . 20. I couldn’t even drink wine at the wedding.
A week after the honeymoon I was neck-deep in school and Rob was interviewing for youth pastor jobs. We were the typical young newly married coupled. We were poor, we had our parents 30+ year old couch and a lopsided second-hand bed.
And. . . We had life in the palm of our hands!
“Potential is one of the most wonderful words in any language. It looks forward with optimism. It is filled with hope. It promises success. It implies fulfillment. It hints at greatness. Potential is a word based on opportunities.” – John Maxwell
For 6 years we spent every spare minute in ministry. We loved investing in our youth and staff. They became some of our best friends. We spent hours and hours listening, laughing and telling stories. The opportunities seemed endless, and our potential seemed to be growing daily.
Fast forward 9 years. Rob and I have been married 15 years and I am a mom of 3 beautiful children.
I love my kids. I enjoy their giggles, their little feet and their constant changing. But. . . if you were to ask me to tell you a stories of life now, they would be something about diaper changing, sleep schedules, life with celiac’s or what it is like to be your kids’ personal chauffeur.
There are days filled with moments I will cherish forever, and other days that feel grueling and unfulfilling. Mom life is a weird combination of precious and exhausting. Crazy busy and a bit boring. Some weeks I am out of the house multiple days with my hair done and makeup on. Other weeks, there are days I never get out of my pajamas and I keep the shirt with spit-up on because I know it will just happen again.
You know you are a mom when you actually start putting showers on your calendar!
I am a person who likes to run hard and fast. The last nine years have been filled with young children and health challenges. I have often felt confused and unused. Busy and bored. The opportunities seemed few and far between, and my potential seemed to be growing daily in carrying overflowing laundry baskets.
Today, I was reminded to not just be faithful through the dry and stressful seasons but intentional.
“Be prepared in season and out of season.”
It is in the “out of season” I can prepare myself for the “in season.”
“A time comes when you need to stop waiting for the person you want to become and start being the person you want to be.” – Bruce Springsteen
I don’t want to start preparing when the “in season” starts. I want to be prepared and ready to run like a nut!
We are full of potential! We are filled with greatness! But. . . we need to prepare!
What do you need to do to prepare, so that when you enter your “in season” you can reach you potential?
