Imagine 10 years from now...our kids are all in college or already graduated. David and I have sold the house, quit our normal jobs and moved to a cabin in the back woods near the Smokies where I am able to work as an author/grant consultant doing the majority of my work from home and he is able to work as a part time nurse practitioner on a flexible schedule at the local ER or medical center. We work to save for our next big trek through the Appalachian Trail, Pacific Crest trail or trip to Everest Base Camp. Our packs are covered with patches of trails we've hiked and our walls are covered with photos of mountain top vistas, amber waves of grain and costal horizons that seem to go to infinity. Sometimes we hike alone and sometimes with friends or family or our kids. We work hard when we work, we play hard when we play, and we enjoy the seclusion of our cabin when we rest. Breathe in - breathe out - feel that sense of peace and calm....so do I. And I love that image.
It sounds crazy. And maybe it is, a little. But more than that, it's uncommon. It's a life people dream about but never find a way to execute. It all sounds fun, but in the daily grind of normal living, the days start blending together and another decade passes and you are no closer to your dream than you were 10 years ago. Most people chalk up their dreams as unrealistic because it doesn't fit into the normal framework. Life is good - give up on it being great.
I don't believe it has to be this way. I believe the dream is achievable, but only when the goal is greater than the ordinary good. Like every other area of discipline, how we spend our time, our money, the career steps we take along the way, all blend together to paint the picture not only of our present but also form our future. We cannot wake up one day and live a reality so radically different from our yesterday. But if each step we are taking slowly moves us closer to our goal, the radical sounding future slowly becomes the next logical step.
This goal will take specific steps in education and career direction. It will take extraordinary discipline in financial matters. It will take choosing to say no to the ordinary good in front of us again and again, with our thoughts towards the future instead. But if the goal is for great, than good may not be enough. Good looks a lot less appealing than great.
When the Israelites were first traveling from Egypt, they had a destination. Oppression and slavery were behind them and the Promise Land was before them. They had seen God's mighty hand against the Egyptians and their feet had walked on the river bed that God Himself had parted for their miraculous escape. Great was before them. As they kept walking God provided all their needs. He had something great for them - a promise of a land of their own that was more than they could ask or imagine. Greatness was just a hike away.
As their feet kept moving, the slavery seemed less awful to the certainty they had experience in the day to day ordinary. The promised great started to fade and their motivation wained. God was no less faithful, but their patience with Him was wearing thin. And they began to rebel. They complain. They hardened their hearts. They made idols. They doubted the promise. Their memories betrayed them and they began to think of their life in Egypt as good. They couldn't picture the great anymore. Eventually, they all died in the wilderness, wandering day by day, never getting to receive the promise except for the two who had believed in God's great plan above the ordinariness everyone else began to long for. Great is hard - and most people will sacrifice great for the good or even the "just ok".
Now I don't know if God is calling us to this life. David and I have talked about it for so long, I can no longer pinpoint when the dream began. And yet, the steps we need to take for this dream might be His preparation to send us to the mission field overseas, or move us into ministry somewhere we haven't even imagined yet. I believe that if God calls us on a path, then He is preparing us for something great, even if we don't really understand the destination He has in mind.
But I believe in a great God who does great things - good just doesn't seem to cut it anymore.
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