Maybe you've heard this one before, but my dad always told me, "Son, you've got to expect the best, but prepare for the worst." When I was a kid I kind of understood what he meant, but as I grew, the truth of this dad-ism has proven itself a very reliable way to live - time and time again. Remembering my brief time as a boy scout, my biggest take away was to "always be prepared".
Problem is, after awhile, life can sometimes make you cynical. You start twisting and blending the preparation with something else very dangerous: Worry. The saying can, over time, morph into "expect the worst." Our generation operates from a way of life where "enjoy now, pay later" is the leading mantra. However, things can get down right scary when it's time to pay the piper. Dreams can spiral quickly and then manifest into the nightmares we've ignored and evaded as long as we could. We hoped things would simply take care of themselves. They didn't. What now?
The War on Worry
First thing that has to happen: You have to declare an all out war on worry. Seriously think about it for a moment: Will your worry fix anything? Anything at all? No, worry is the wrong use of a powerful tool we each possess. Mancini's book God Dreams highlights this as he agrees,
Indeed, we may assert again that worry is the misuse of the imagination. And fear must never drive our visionary planning work. #WillMancini #GodDreams
Imagination. This powerful tool is accessed right between our ears. We just have to command it and not let it command us. We should not be surprised that Jesus of Nazareth was waging war on worry when he instructed us, "So don’t worry about these things...These things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers, but your Heavenly Father already knows all your needs." This is not about simple wish-fulfillment. We're also not talking about digging yourself a deeper ditch by making the same bad choices that got you into the hole in the first place.
Dreams = Good.
Vision = Better.
Commitment = Best.
It's going to take doing something different to arrive at a different place in life. What can take you from hole to whole? It'll take some doing, maybe even a lot. But it's better than spending one more day doing nothing but worry. Stop merely daydreaming about what could be. You need a vision. To put this into perspective, having vision is more than just something you can see, it's something you can't stop seeing. And once you can't stop seeing it, you can't stop - you won't stop reaching for it. It takes the mundane and fuses it with purpose. Mancini adds to this pointedly when he says,
Vision without execution is a daydream, and execution without vision is a nightmare. #WillMancini #GodDreams
Don't straddle the fence with your imagination. Direct it. Imagine where you want your life to lead and then take the necessary steps. Imagine the desired end and use that as your fuel for your first step. Use it when you doubt and when you get war weary. Whatever you do, stop using your imagination to leave you paralyzed. Rather, use it to get you moving. However small the step or movement may be, it doesn't matter. Consider this: It'll be more than if you did nothing.
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Book Ref
http://a.co/fleMC4X
http://a.co/iSZBBOn
Verse Ref
http://biblehub.com/matthew/6-31.htm
http://biblehub.com/matthew/6-32.htm
additional credit to copy editor: Cae Towns
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