Self Portrait - 005 - 2010Do we ever really know what tomorrow brings? Tomorrow is filled with hope, but tomorrow could also bring tragedy. It is clear we should plan our steps, but it is also clear that the Lord Himself is the one who actually orders them. God never intends for us to sit passively waiting for our legs and arms to be moved as if we were mere automatons; however, it would be foolish to believe our future is written by sheer acts of personal will.

So, in essence, we plan while staring into the void. This fact quite often paralyzes me. I end up struggling with the minutae of now rather than focusing on the planning and implementation of tommorrow. While I can see the forest, I find the trees to be incredibly distracting.

Moving from the void to the tangible is something I’ve never been good at. I cannot decide what is most important tomorrow or what will be most beneficial: IT certifications, writing songs, writing articles, guitar playing, job progression, getting fit – it all seems important, but it all takes a lot of down in the dirt with rolled up sleeves kind of effort – day in and day out. What if you put in all of that effort and in the end you’re no better off than you were before? Or, worse, you now realize you’ve applied yourself in the wrong thing altogether and you’ve now wasted years of effort on something that is not really part of the Big Picture.

What I know in my heart to be true is seemingly impossible to get through to my head… if we apply ourselves to the glory of God, trusting Him to guide our steps… nothing we do will be a waste. Nothing. Everything we do will cause greater satisfaction and will be used as a means of sanctification. But I still can’t figure out what to pick.

So, that’s why I started with what I consider three meager goals… write everyday (disciplined writing), take a picture of myself everyday (forced creativity), and begin a basic exercise program (habitual reboot). None of these is huge, but already, in just five days I’m beginning to see some fruit (miserably failed at exercise so far though). The daily grind… just have to keep at it for the glory of God and allow Him to use both my successes and my failures to draw me nearer to Him.