Don't Wish. Just Do.

There may be thousands of writers or nurses or artists out there, but there's only one writer or nurse or artist that is you and can communicate the way only you can.


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Years ago I wished I could paint pictures or sing or play the guitar. Or be a missionary, design clothes or become a marathon runner, a chef, a decorator. I tried to be all holy about it, say I wanted to help others, but honestly? I sought to find appreciation and (sigh) recognition.

And all those years I think God tapped his toes and kept asking himself, "When will Debra learn to receive the appreciation only I can give? When will she finally open and use the gifts I gave her? And for heaven's sake, why does she keep wishing for other peoples' gifts?"

But that was long ago and eventually I stopped wishing and just plain stalling. I finally learned how to remain in God's comforting presence and then I did open those God-placed gifts, learned how to use them, and now Life feels golden.

I feed the poor, shivering sparrows outside my dining room windows, plant flowers and bushes in springtime and feel like, in my corner of the world, I'm helping keep nature balanced. It feels important, necessary, satisfying.

I write in this blog most days, try to let God flow through these attempts and find great joy in encouraging others to let God whisk them to yet unvisited places in their souls, in their worlds.

And at Facebook? A place many condemn and title useless? Just this week, a friend from junior high lost her son-in-law and many of us told her we'd pray for her family and help in any way. I encouraged a relative there going through depression and let another friend know that I'd send money for her son's family who, yesterday, lost everything when their apartment burned-up.

Facebook, useless? Nothing in Life is useless--the blindness of self-pity can keep us from seeing, though. We see ways to help everywhere when we stop asking, "But what about my needs?".

There comes a time to stop wishing and just start doing, obeying, instead.

Discouragers lie to us and tell us to wait until we're better, until we've got Life figured out. But in waiting we only put-off the excitement which comes from using the gifts God slipped into each of us and the joy from obedience. 

And why procrastinate and miss wonderful things? Why spend this one short life wishing we were something, somewhere or someone else, cheating everyone out of what we can give uniquely as no one else can?












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"So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God."   ... 1 Corinthians 10:31







“But wishes are only granted in fairy tales.”  
― Simone Elkeles, Perfect Chemistry

“If there's a single lesson that life teaches us, it's that wishing doesn't make it so. ”
― Lev Grossman, The Magicians

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