Recently I was blessed with two and a half hours on the road all by myself. I did something I hadn’t done in a very long time; I unplugged from all the podcasts and lessons I usually listen to and simply allowed myself to enjoy my favorite Pandora station the entire trip.

I’d forgotten how much music nourishes my soul. I was reminded of how the lyrics and tunes have carried me through so many seasons of my life. 

One song, in particular, touched me that day; 100 Years by Five for Fighting. Every time I hear that song it takes me back to different stages in my life. It seemed to be especially relevant as we come to the end of this decade and begin a new one. 

The phrase “When you only got a hundred years to live,” summarizes life so well doesn’t it?  

We think 100 years is a long time, but at every stage of life, we find we are only there for a moment and in a blink of an eye we move on just as the song says. 

It’s easy to get nostalgic about life when we pause to realize how quickly it passes. Even the moments that at the time seemed to drag on for eternity are a flash as we look back. 

As I recall the really big moments, like graduation from high school where emotions were high and it seemed we had life all figured out. 

Or a few short years later when I made the decision to keep the baby that grew inside of me as a young unmarried woman despite having no clue how I would provide for him or how life would turn out. 

Or two years later I found myself marrying a man who seemed too good to be true despite a false belief that you cannot trust men, especially the ones you believe you really love. 

Or ten years later when my instinct told me to leave a good job and take another that was less certain and then to go back to the original one only 14 months later. 

Or three years ago when my heart pulled me away from that career once again to begin my coaching practice, despite the uncertainty that was inherent in such a decision. 

But each time I made a choice based on blind faith trusting that God would provide. And each time He did just that. Not always in the way I thought He would, but always in exactly the way I needed Him to at the moment. The lessons I learned when it didn’t turn out the way I thought it would, turned out to be far more valuable than anything I would have received had I simply got my wish.  

You see, I quickly learned I really knew nothing about the real world and living on my own. 

Or how that baby grew up to be an amazing human being, a terrific husband and father, and someone I am honored to not only call my friend but also a mentor in so many ways. 

That husband, now some thirty-three years later loves me in a way I could not have ever imagined in my wildest dreams and is the best life partner a gal could ever ask for.

That job I left for a short time way back when taught me lessons about what I am capable of and how a workplace is an opportunity to serve in a way I could not have created on my own. I grew my confidence in who I am and helped me to learn to take nothing for granted in life.

And becoming a coach helped me to lean into my faith in ways I didn’t know how until I learned that I need God’s guidance every day and that until I fully trust Him and strive to live in His will I be fully at peace and finally find the fulfillment I’d been searching for my whole life.  

You see when we realize that in the scope of eternity, and the fact that we only get 100 years to live, we realize that we need to make every minute count. 

When I look back I realize how much time I wasted chasing after things that really don’t matter in life. I got hung up on what others thought instead of how I might serve others. I keep going back to words in a recent devotion out of the Ultimate Success…God’s Way by the New Life Network. In it is a quote from a Pastor named Adrian Rogers that says, “The misuse of anything as precious as time should be a crime. If somebody steals your car, you can acquire another. If they snatch your wallet, a few phone calls would salvage the majority of your concerns. But who can you call when you lose your time?”  

The devotion goes on to say that in Ecclesiastes 11:9, Solomon reminds us that we must give an account to God for everything we do because, for most of us, one of these days generally means none of these days. 

To summarize the remainder of the devotion, he says that how we spend our days is how we spend our lives and that we must make every minute count. To do so we must learn to say no to things that are not meant for us. God does not want us to overload our schedule and be so busy with good things so that we miss the best of what He intends for us. In other words, we need to learn to use discernment when deciding what is ours and what isn’t.

Next, the author reminds us to walk in the spirit. The only way we can do this is by including Jesus in our day to day lives and look to Him for guidance for our daily walk.  This has been an area that I have struggled with for some time, but I find that the more I allow myself to seek God first and then surrender to those things that my heart longs for instead of the things my mind leads me to, the more at peace I find myself.  

The last suggestion the author of the devotion reminds us to do is to avoid procrastination. Once again I am convicted by this reminder because I can find a hundred ways to avoid what needs to be done. James 4:17 tells us that it is a sin to know what we ought to do and then not do it. Simply stated, there will be times when God will call us to do things we don’t feel like doing when we don’t feel like doing them. We need to do them anyway. 

This one really struck a chord with me as I’ve been reluctant to do some things that I know I should do because it would be an inconvenience or uncomfortable for me. I felt that I’d been cheated somehow because I thought my path should be easier and that I’d made some sacrifices that seemed unreasonable to me. I felt that I’d give so much already that I deserved some kind of reward for my effort.  

Then a different devotion pointed out to me the sacrifices that the three wise men had made when they picked up and went in search of the Christ child. They left their homes, their families, life of luxury to blindly follow a star that they didn’t know exactly where it was nor how long they’d be gone. But they did it anyway.

When put to me that way, I realized that the tiny sacrifices I’ve made are nothing in comparison.  Yes, I’d given up some luxuries, but all in all, I still get to do what I want, when I want. I still have my family my beautiful home, and to sleep in my own bed every night; not some tent in the desert. In retrospect, what I have been asked to give up to answer my calling is nothing compared to what those men gave up to answer theirs.  

But isn’t that how life is? We think we’ve got it so bad until we realize it could be so much worse. 

As we end this decade and step into this new year and the new decade, it’s difficult not to want to focus on the things we had planned to do that didn’t get done. We have a tendency to be discouraged by what is left to do. Our day to day responsibilities so often can weigh us down and prevent progress on the bigger goals in life.  But this is a great time to pause in our journey and celebrate how far we’ve come in our faith and in our life. It is the perfect time to give thanks to God for his faithfulness and things He has helped us complete that may not have even been on our radar. 

It’s also valuable to take a look at the inner growth we’ve experienced by having setbacks and disappointments.  Simply the act of learning something from each misstep or failure can cause us to develop character and perseverance. And the ability to trust God enough to ask what He wanted us to learn and then to pick ourselves up and take another step is enough to celebrate.  

If we remember that nothing is wasted and that God can use all of our experiences to prepare us for the work He has called us to do, we can view our meager 100 years on this earth as a string of opportunities to serve God and the people He brings into our lives. He will use every moment of every day for our good and for His glory if we will slow down long enough to ask what He wants us to do. 

Taking the time to look at this decade in retrospect has really helped me to focus on the opportunities that I have missed because I was focused on all the wrong things.  It has also helped me focus on how much more present I can be to the opportunities that will be coming my way over the days and weeks ahead and how I can pray for the wisdom to see them and the courage to step into them so that I can help others to do the same.  

I know God is asking me to help others to see the value they bring into their world and how they can influence others to do the same. To shed light on how each of you can use your unique talents, skills, and abilities to shine your light into this dark and scary world or to make a  place that is already bright with love to be a little brighter by sharing your joy and hope for the future.

I am excited to step into this new decade and be the best I can be so that I can faithfully step into whatever it is I am called to do. 

How about you? What are you feeling called to do? Are there things in your life you know you need to change but didn’t know how or had the courage to do? 

Or maybe you have the lingering feeling that something needs to change, but you don’t even know what it is. 

How much longer will you stay in this place knowing that the moments will pass quickly and the opportunities to do the good you were created to do will be missed?

The reality is that there’s barely enough time when we’ve only got a hundred years to live, but we all know that we aren’t even promised that much time, so start living your life’s purpose today. 

If you are ready to step into the life you were created for and to begin to live your more, I’d love to help you with that.

If you aren’t sure what that is, let’s have a conversation to help you get really clear on what your purpose in life is and what your next step is. Let’s face it, you are here for a reason.  God is calling you to something greater than just living moment by moment without regard to what He is calling you to do.  Now is the time to step into it, because waiting even one more day is a missed opportunity. 

Thank you for stopping by today. Your time I precious and it is such an honor that you would spend it with me. If you know of someone who needs to hear this message, please share it with them. If you know several people who could benefit, share it on social media.  Also, if you would be so kind as to leave a comment on iTunes, it will help others find me. 

But all of that aside, if this resonated with you and you would like to have a conversation about how 2020 can finally be the year of change for you, let’s talk.  I’d love to help you start off the new year in the right direction; one that will be so powerful and so transformational that you will always remember it as the year everything changed. 

So go, have a blessed New Year, and Live Your More!