Not One Day Too Soon

Look closely at the present you are constructing. It should look like the future you are dreaming. - Alice Walker

Overnight successes usually aren’t. There are months and years of work that often go unnoticed and unrecognized. In today’s world with 24 hour news, instant updates via every social media outlet imaginable, fast food, pizza delivery, and cellphones there seems little reason to wait for anything.

Photos and videos go ‘viral’ and the people associated are household names in hours or days. With a few exceedingly rare exceptions, most of those who experienced that kind of success still had a history of hard work behind them until the right exposure or opportunity opened to them.

It’s easy to give up on our dreams because getting started takes effort, time, and commitment and there are usually other, more pressing things that need our attention. But what would happen if you took just ONE step in the direction of your dreams? What if you explored just one open door?

The book of Haggai encourages us to dream - and to dream big! It also cautions us not to get ahead of ourselves.

The generation of Jews Haggai wrote to imagined a gorgeous temple, full of beauty and details that would showcase the awesomeness of the God of the universe to the best of human ability. They knew it could be done, because they remembered the previous temple built by Solomon. They had heard how pleased God was with the early temple, so they KNEW it was possible.

They had gotten started by repairing the foundation and probably set up a few interior walls. But it was barely functional, and not very pretty. There were no ornaments of gold or silver, no copper bowls or glittering candle sticks. It was all bare stone and dirt floors. It seemed like a lot of hard work that resulted in nothing more than a foundation that looked like any other building. So, in Ezra’s time, they gave up.

I don’t believe they stopped wanting the temple, and the Lord, through Haggai, encouraged them to keep building. They had given up because they forgot that the mundane work they were doing in the present was setting them up for the presence of glory they dreamed of for the future.

God admonished them to “Give careful thought” to their ways no less than 5 times in this small book. Why? Because He wanted them to think about how what they were doing in the present would build the future they wanted.

And yet I can hear all their excuses - It’s too much work. It’s not turning out right. It’s not what we expected. It’s taking too long.

That’s the stage I am in now with this new full time writing career. Because I have published books before, I know I can do it. I know it is fun, and that there are generous rewards for the effort. But because I had to take some time away from it due to a job change, the work I did years ago has been neglected.

It has left me starting from scratch, rebuilding a business and constructing a new platform for my writing that goes beyond a published book. That means the novel writing I want to do is delayed, or at least slowed down so I can focus on setting a solid foundation that will support my art for years, and hopefully decades to come. It means doing things and learning things that aren’t necessarily in my skill set. Al things that take time. But I know putting the effort in now is what will make the difference later.

I remind myself frequently that I am working on my business, even though it feels a little like treading water. A lot of work with no forward progress. It would be easy to quit when these tedious, lonely, behind the scenes days go on longer than I expected with seemingly nothing to show for it.

But, just like the months the Jewish nation spent repairing the foundation and reconstructing the walls of the temple, the work I am doing now is what will set me up for success later. Probably sooner than I expect if I stick with it, and I refuse to quit one day too soon!

Things to Think About:

What un-pursued dream haunts you?

What passion eats at you when you allow yourself a moment to think about it?

Is there something you started that you know you should see through to the very end?

What one step can you take today to lay a foundation for future success?

Dream BIG and think of ways to craft your present into the future you’ve always wanted.

Playlist:

Dance Again by LIFE Worship

There’s No Way by Red Rocks Worship