In my mind, I’ve saved the world and died hundreds of times over.
But none of it counts for much when all I’ve really done is think. The sun rises and bleeds away while my head fills with ideas that never come to life. My head is full. I’m think-full.
Thoughts are supposed to initiate action but what happens when all the thoughts make me feel claustrophobic in my own mind? When I was in college I found that I could not study unless I cleaned my dorm room first. I couldn’t focus in clutter. How do I clean my head out? I have so many ideas I not only want to start – but to finish.
Roman 7:15 says it best, For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate.
I want to write and publish a story but instead I read and edit other people’s stories. I want to create more and more with my woodworking but instead I just watch woodworking videos or play video games or just zone out. Why do I find it so easy to deviate from the things that I enjoy doing? I don’t feel satisfied, I just feel empty and berate myself for getting distracted.
I think a partial answer is, if I sink my time and energy into something that doesn’t produce a final product with my name on it, then I don’t have to worry about failure. If I play a video game no one will remember what I did in that game. If I help someone with their writing then the final outcome is theirs, not mine. We have to stop investing so much time into things that leave nothing behind. Will what you are doing build on a legacy or is it a distraction?
When you are gone, no one will remember that high score or that beautiful digital building or farm you created in a gaming world. It will be stored on a server and will disappear with press of a button. No one will praise the amount of the screen time you accumulated. When you go, it will also disappear. Playing games or watching videos isn’t inherently evil, they have their time and place and I still enjoy doing them, but when it distracts you from your goal, from your calling, something has to be done.
The world offers us counterfeits and distractions in place of God’s gift of talents. He has given me the gift of creativity in writing, creating, and connecting with others but I feel like I’m stuck in what seem like perpetual daydream and it has caused me to neglect my gifts and in turn to neglect others.
It’s time that we get out of our heads. That we take the dreams, ideas, and thoughts and put them on paper, build them with our hands, make the dream a reality not just for you but for everyone else who you may touch with your ideas. No one can touch your imagination until you make it concrete.
Today, I will write. Today I will create- not just for me. I will create for you.
Keep developing yourself, and not just in your head.
Enjoy this song by Unspoken.
The Latent Man 