Video: Begin where you are

You can go anywhere you want to go- if you FIRST admit where you are. We know it's true. That's how we find out how to get to the coffee shop (like the example in the video above). It's how we take vacations. It's how we change jobs, move houses, and even select our classes in school.

In each of these instances, we simply decide where we want to go... then we "own" where we are now. From there, we move forward to our destination. 

There's no shame in it. In any of these cases. We know that in order to move anywhere, you have to know where you're standing right now. 

Here's the problem, though. When things get "more serious"- when it's a big dream we're pursuing, particualarly something we feel that we should already have achieved...

* how many of us thought we'd be farther along in life by now?

* how many of us have compared our ditch with everyone else's highlight reel, thinking we should have better kids, more stuff, and a bigger whatever...?

* how many of us thought we'd have more money in the bank by now? 

* how many of us thought we'd be out of this job and into that one- or out of this position and into that promotion... by now...?

... when we start qualifying ourselves with negative language, we bring an element of guilt + shame that we were never designed to carry. Particularly on things (let's be real, OK) as mundane as jobs and promotions and bank accounts, right?

I lived this firsthand. A few times. 

Wow, if I'm honest, I actually get familiar with it every few weeks, it seems. 

A few years ago, I found myself 50 pounds overweight. I'd bump into people I knew in high school and think, "Gee, they've let themselves go!"

Now, I know I was pointing one finger at them- and four were pointing back at me! You know how that saying goes. It was a whole plank-speck thing. 

My wife tried to give me a wake-up call several times. 

"You want to see what you weigh?" she'd ask. We had- and have- scales in our bathroom. I avoided them like the bubonic plague. 

Or, I'd be downing my second white chocolate mocha of the day- Venti-sized with added caramel syrup and she'd inquire, "You think you might be drinking all your calories?" 

I later learned that drink has 720 calories. I was drinking two per day and eating an apple fritter or donut with each one. I just figured the snacks had calories- I never imagined you could actually drink them (turns out, you can and I did- lots of them!).

The point is... I was embarrased. Ashamed. I didn't want to hit the scale because I knew what it said. I didn't want to admit where I was.

It's the same reason I refused to look at our bank balances online- for years. 

And the same reason I wouldn't look at the numbers for businesses and organizations where I worked. I didn't want to know the answer, because the truth would confirm what I already felt- and intuitively knew- to be true: I wasn't where I wanted to be.

Jesus said, though, "The truth will set you free..." (John 8:32). 

That's the intent of truth- is to set you free...

* not label you

* not hold you captive

* not belittle you- or shame you...

It's a mental shift, I know- particularly if you grew up with, live around, or are Facebook friends with people who use bits of truth like bits of shrapnel from a grendade. Truth was never designed to harm, but to empower!

Yes, truth empowers you towards freedom!

When we "own it," our location... where we are. Wherever that is. Then we have the truth. And that truth empowers us to move forward. There's no shame, for it's only in identifying the starting point that we can truly begin the journey towards wholeness + healing + freedom. 

__________________

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