Don’t Settle

20 Sep

“There is no passion to be found playing small — in settling for a life that is less than the one you are capable of living.”  ~ Nelson Mandela

There are certain people, I will admit, who make me uncomfortable.  One of those groups would be settlers.  You know the people.  Those who settle for less rather than work for all that could be achieved.  Settlers generally do not make much of a contribution.  As a matter of fact, settlers often make even more work.  Since they settled for less, someone else has to come around to do what was left unaccomplished.

Nelson Mandela reminds us that settling for a life that is less than the one you are capable of living is counterproductive.  We were not created to be settlers.  We were created to be explorers, to be achievers, to be big and bold in all that we do.

The big discoveries made throughout history have rarely come from people who settled for something less.  No.  They came about because people rejected the something less and went for more.  Because they went for more, we have made huge advances in medicine, in science, in computer engineering, in all areas of life.

This applies to our spiritual lives as well.  We are called not to settle for less but to live our faith lives big and bold.  Jesus even indicated this in His parable of the talents.  Talents were given to a certain number of workers and, when the master returned, he expected to see a return on the talents given.  The one who settled for less, who buried his talent, was chastised.

God has not given us our many gifts and talents so that we could bury them and do nothing.  God gave us all that we have and made us all that we are so that we could live, big and bold, in this world and introduce others to Him.

Do not settle in your life.  Do not settle in your faith life.  Go for it, however big and far away it might appear to be.  Reaching out, you just might touch the stars!

FAITH ACTION:  Live up to the demanding expectations of your faith today so that you may show the world what a true Christian is all about.