One Thing

"Do your work, and I shall know you. Do your work, and you shall reinforce yourself."

~Ralph Waldo Emerson

Day 15 Assignment: One Thing by Colin Wright

Take a moment, step back from your concerns, and focus on one thing: You have one life to achieve everything you’ve ever wanted. Sounds simple, but when you really focus on it, let it seep into your consciousness, you realize you only have about 100 years to get every single thing you’ve ever wanted to do. No second chances. This is your only shot. Suddenly, this means you should have started yesterday. No more waiting for permission or resources to start. Today is the day you make the rest of your life happen. Write down one thing you’ve always wanted to do and how you will achieve that goal. Don’t be afraid to be very specific in how you’ll achieve it: once you start achieving, your goals will get bigger and your capability to meet them will grow.



These exercises are challenging for me. The one place I'd like to visit, the one fear, the one thing...  As if we all have a single, all-pervading drive or focus in our lives. If I'm not careful, I can let this make me feel as though I have a boring and mundane life; as though I am "less than" when I can't come up with something that seems worthy of devoting an entire post to.

What if the one thing I want to do in life is nothing amazing, nothing awe-inspiring, nothing worth writing home about, and certainly nothing worth someone else's time to read and/or comment on? What if I want nothing more than to live a quiet, peaceful, honest life? What if the dream I've had since I was young was sitting on my porch in the country, looking out at the wonder of God's creations, and suddenly a car appears at the end of my driveway... My children coming for a visit with the grandkids... or a friend coming for a cup of tea or coffee and conversation.

I sometimes think that challenges like this assume that everyone is destined to change the world in their lifetime. But, most of us, I think, are destined to live quiet, peaceful lives, while we change the lives of only one or two or a dozen people. Now, maybe one of them will go on to change the world, but I'm not sure changing the world -- being a Ghandi or a Mother Teresa -- is what I'm meant to do with my life.

I guess my One Thing would have to be living a life in such a way that I hear the words:

"Well done, thou good and faithful servant." 

In the end, that's my purpose. To serve.

#Trust30 Day Fifteen