I was cleaning my room when...

Last week I was going through my closet, cleaning out random junk and rearranging the good stuff so that it's now somewhat organized. If you're anything like me, when you go through your old piles, you find all sorts of things that were formally lost or forgotten, like the matching pants to my pajama-like suit I bought in Nigeria, or old high school science experiments, pictures, or notes to/from that crush you had way back when (No, I'm not sharing one of those). Well, in one of my folders I found a piece of paper with some words of advice I'd heard from a couple friends at camp a few years back... you know, those good inspiring phrases that you figured you should probably write down and then stash somewhere in vain hopes of finding it again. Well, I found it, and I've been thinking about these three things over the last couple days and thought I'd share them:

1. Training vs. Trying: In a lot of areas of life we go about just trying to obtain something. We can put forth a ton of effort trying to reach a goal, make a relationship work, connect with God, or get good grades. These aren't bad things, but I think we often have the wrong attitude or an ineffective perspective. Instead of trying, I'm training, I'm growing and learning, and I know I'll make mistakes along the way. It's a broader look at things. So the question I asked myself today was, "What am I training for?"Instead of trying to get good grades, I'm training to be the best engineer I can be; instead of trying to reach God, I'm training to become more like Him. I'm training to be a husband - in wisdom, purity, and leadership. I'm training for after college - understanding my career interests, my passions, and my goals. What are you training for?
2. Preparing vs. Planning: In our fast paced, instant American culture, we want everything planned ahead perfectly, whether it's figuring out every detail of our life, our business, or the next event that we're organizing. And sometimes it's like I'm living one big to-do list life. Having short and long term goals, to-do lists, or direction in life can be great and necessary things, and I don't think this advice means to be any less driven or motivated to aim high and work toward goals. However, I think there's a certain element of mystery and faith in our plans that's healthy, that keeps us flexible, not set in our ways, thinking outside the box, adventurous. Furthermore, I think we could afford to shift our focus more from planning out our life to preparing for life (developing our attitude, character, skills, etc), with the understanding that things may not always go as expected. The two are not mutually exclusive; you can plan and prepare, it's just that sometimes I need to step back from all the details, trust that things will work out, and live each moment as a way of being thankful for the present and preparing for the future. Check out the song "Faith My Eyes" by Caedmon's Call and Proverbs 16:9.
   
3. Living Offensively vs. Defensively: To live defensively is to live with an attitude of "what if." It's dominated by the circumstances and by what other's do and think. To live offensively is to be motivated by love rather than fear (1 John). It's not held back by "what ifs," but decides through wisdom and trust in God.