The only thing stopping you is you

I was on social media the other day and ran across a project of the Brooklyn Art Library. The call it the, “Artist Sketchbook” project, for $30.00 they will send you a little sketch book and you are suppose to sketch out your life and then mail it in and they will put it in the library and on-line for public viewing.

I’m not an artist and so I’m wondering if it was vanity that had me spend my hard earned money in order to get my name and a “body of my work” on a shelf in an art library in New York City? I only have so much creative juice in my body and to do this extra-curricular project is draining me even now as I just think about it. I’ve got until August, ugh (they give you deadline?)! What will I draw to represent my life? What does my life look like on 16, 5 x 7 pieces of paper? What does my life look like if it looks like “art?”

Jesus said He came to give us life, an abundant life (John 10:10), a life that overflows and that life started when we acknowledged Him as our Lord and Savior. I believe that but I don’t see a lot of it - those Red Letters make for great theology but I sense most people who claim Christ are not always experiencing it. Why is that?

I saw last week on Twitter megachurch pastor Craig Groeschel tweeted, “If you can’t find God, worship Him. He’ll find you.” It’s easy to get lost or distracted in what Paul called “the last days” “of difficulty (2 Timothy 3:1).”

It seems like we are back in high school, trying to get people to like us by our clever Facebook posts. I have grown adults tell me they still fear and face peer pressure - say what?!

Jesus’ brother James told us, “What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes.” Christmas is what we call Advent, but it’s the 1st advent - Jesus is coming back and we need to ask what are we doing in this mist of a sketchbook life that will allow us to hear, “Well, done good and faithful servant (Matthew 25:23).”

Okay, now what? What if I want my life to matter to God? Zechariah 4:10 tells us to not despise small beginnings. What I’m saying is we don’t have to know all the steps just the next step. Worship the Lord and He will find you. Take the next step however small it might be to wards the abundant life.

We had a lady visit our church and she shared how she loved avocados but when she first discovered them they were hard to eat. She was peeling them like a potato, she didn’t know about cutting them in half and then whacking the seed with a knife to pull it out, etc. She said after learning that life-hack she saw how God had put avocados in their own little bowl and you could just eat them with a spoon. “Voila!” My point is we can make things harder than they have to be.

Your life will look like what you make it. Of course He is here to help you along the way, encouraging you, equipping you, empowering you to accomplish His perfect and pleasing will. The only thing stopping you is you.

He told me to tell you that.