Sep 24 2008
published: Now for the Not-Yet
My latest article is up on Boundless.org today! “Now for the Not-Yet” is all about examining the paths we’re on to make sure they lead where we want to go — living fully today, living fulfilled tomorrow. Check it out!
Incidentally, Boundless is celebrating their 10th year this month. I am one of many readers who have been blessed by their encouraging, convicting, intelligent articles on young adulthood and what it means to be a Christian in this day and age. This article, written to celebrate the last decade, was encouraging to me as a writer, too — words really do make an impact.
i’ve enjoyed may of your articles on boundless, so i thought i’d leave a little love back here at your blog. i let the writing bug fly away somewhere between ages 15-18 and chose a career in engineering, but reading your work suddenly makes me wonder if i could pick it up again…maybe someday, eh?
as far as i can surmise, we only have a river and an international border between us, so if i should ever run into you in a local starbucks, don’t be alarmed if i try and introduce myself.
-erin
Excellent article Rachel, two paragraphs stood out to me in particular, and really relate to where I’m at right now.
“On top of all of that, we fight our own flesh. What do I mean by that? I mean that if we want to really live our days, loaded and fragrant, with purpose and holy joy, we need to fight our inborn laziness, our tendency to forget, our knack for centering on trivial, unsatisfying things, and our propensity to dig ruts and sit in them.”
I love the way you listed the four items at the end: inborn laziness, tendency to forget, our knack for centering on the trivial, and our propensity to dig ruts and sit in them. I left home a thousand miles away, after living with my family for the last 20 years and graduating from home school 3 years back, and yet in a new environment, with new people, new classes, and an impressive school name, I still find myself behaving as the same old person with those four habits.
“Then there are relationships: the heart and blood of life. “Thine own friend, and thy father’s friend, forsake not,” instructs Proverbs 27:10. There’s something tragic about a life lived in pursuit of personal growth, goals, and passions, while the people who make life worth living are overlooked. In every season, I want to love my family, my friends, and my God wholeheartedly.”
I didn’t realize it until I left home, but I had been and am probably continuing to do this. I keep finding myself caught up in my own personal plans and strategies for things, for what God want’s me to do, for what I’m supposed to do with my life, and I just can’t seem to get myself to factor other people, relationships, and things like that into how I think.
All in all, the article was very convicting and inspiring. Just a little bit of honesty here.
Thanks for writing,
Adam W.
What a coincidence, two posts by engineers in a row. I also miss writing, and using the right half of my brain, for that matter.
Erin, please do! I’d love to meet you.
Adam, thanks for your openness. Writing an article like that is a major wake-up call for me, too. I’m working on applying all the principles I know, and probably only succeed two thirds of the time. But every time I do succeed, it’s a step down the road I want to be on.
Oh, and from a purely English standpoint, that fighting your flesh sentence is my favourite one in the whole article
.
Wow … I’ve just glanced through this and printed it to read later. It looks amazing. Thank you for sharing, Rachel!
Per your comment on my page….
OH MY HEAVENS, YOU SHOULD TOTALLY TOTALLY TOTALLY TRY AND MAKE IT.
it is going to be *so* fun!!! do, try and come!!
Hey, Rachel I haven’t read the article yet but I just saw the movie Fireproof. Judging by the description of your article, I thought I’d post a comment here to see if you’ve seen it and how that fits in (if at all). Hope you’re doing well. You miss Bethany? I sure do!