If you are haunted by the knowledge that you were created for more, you know what it feels like to feel adrift.  To feel that there must be more to life. You feel like you have bits and pieces of the answer, but they don’t seem to fit together. And it doesn’t make sense.

We all want a great life.  We want to know we are contributing to something important and that we make a difference.  But instead, we drift from day to day, either bored or overwhelmed, hoping that something will change and life will get better. 

A few weeks ago I talked about a birthday party I planned to attend. It was everything I had hoped it would be full of laughter, love, and the joy of celebrating a life well-lived. My cousins went all out to make sure it was an event that no one, much less the honoree would soon forget. 

One of the things I particularly noticed was how much the children enjoyed the balloons.  There were some that were simply blown up without any helium. These balloons were somewhat listless and only came to life when a child was playing with them.  While the helium-filled balloons were stretching to reach the ceiling at all times. The kids had a blast batting at them and racing around the room with them.  

It dawned on me that our lives are much like those balloons.  Sometimes life looks more like a balloon filled with regular air.  Our days are full, but life doesn’t always have a lot of meaning and it really isn’t going anywhere because there is little or no inspiration.  It doesn’t have any helium so it just drifts around the floor aimlessly. Often hiding in a corner or under a table. On occasion, someone pulls it out and it has a good time with it, but soon it is forgotten and drifting around the floor again without purpose.  

Other balloons, the ones full of helium, are like us when we have a vision and are really inspired. We are so excited about life and it’s like nothing can hold us back. Something has us so motivated that we float high in the sky and we know we’ve found our “thing.”  But somehow, something is still missing.  We drift from one amazing thing to the next, but never with a purpose. And like a balloon filled with helium that hasn’t been tethered to anything, we sometimes get lost in the clouds. Life is breathtakingly beautiful up there, but we’ve lost our grip and are float away. 

To really have it all, we need to have a vision, but we also need to be grounded, don’t we? We need to know who we are, what we value, and what we are called to do before we get full of inspiration, or we, like that balloon full of helium, will just drift away. Once we are grounded and full of inspiration, we are that perfectly balanced balloon that is floating high, enjoying life, but with a purpose and with direction. 

When He created you, God had a plan for your life. He had big dreams for how you would live out your days and He has a specific purpose that only you can fulfill.  He’s been leading you there your entire life and giving you clues all along the way. Not only that, but the experiences you’ve had, both good and bad, have been preparing you for your calling.  

The problem is, we don’t realize they are clues.  In fact, sometimes they feel like distractions.  Sometimes the experiences are too painful to remember, so we push them way down deep inside of us and pretend they aren’t there. And we continue to drift aimlessly. We begin to believe that we aren’t good enough to do anything important. Or we couldn’t possibly be the one to lead that group or take that position.  All those good things in life must be meant for someone else.

So we bury the dreams He laid on our hearts. We fill that longing deep in our soul with stuff. We buy more clothes, we bury ourselves in busywork, or we binge watch whatever the current “must-see” TV show is.  And we hope it will get better.  In fact, we even pray God will fix it for us. 

But the reality of it is, if you want to have a better life, you have to change your life or at least the way you look at life.  I know, it sounds like work, doesn’t it?  Wouldn’t it be easier to simply keep doing what you’re doing?  Yes, yes it would.  But then, you’d never find out what the amazing life that God has planned for you would look like.  

I find that way too many people are doing just that. They are staying with the status quo rather than reaching for more because it looks too hard. I don’t know about you, but that makes me sad.  And that is why I’m stepping outside my comfort zone to create this podcast and offering coaching programs to help you figure out what your soul is longing for and help you to have the courage to step outside of your comfort zone. 

There are three main points to consider when you are ready to step into the life you were created for and begin living your More.  They are:

One – You need to really get grounded in who you are, what you believe in, and what you value.  This can be challenging, because, let’s face it, we like a lot of things and often the things we like are in direct conflict with the things we value. It’s times like that when we have to make choices. Do I really want the piece of cake or do I value being healthy and avoiding sugar more? Do I really want to get that project done or do I want to scroll through social media every night instead?  Or to take it even deeper, do I really want to follow Jesus, or would I rather play it cool and “believe” without really making any changes to my lifestyle?  

Sorry, if I hit a cord there, but I’ve been there…I know how empty it feels. 

Every choice we make matters and when we add them all up, each tiny decision can have a significant impact on one of the five big areas of life.  We can’t ignore any one of these big five areas for very long or we end up out of balance and, like that balloon without any helium or inspiration, we just float around on the ground with very little joy in our life.  Eventually, we get sick, lose relationships, find ourselves bored, or run ourselves ragged.  

I’m pretty sure none of those options are what God had in mind for your life. 

The second main point to consider is that we have to let go of all the things that no longer serve us in life.  Some of them are the lies we’ve been told about ourselves.  For a variety of reasons, many of us have fallen into the habit of either believing that we have no value and cannot possibly have anything to offer the world, or on the reverse, we’ve become so full of ourselves that we can be almost impossible to live with. Somewhere there is a balance with healthy self-esteem where we don’t think too little of ourselves, nor do we overestimate ourselves. 

As Christians, the key is to know the basis of our self-worth.  To know that apart from Christ, our life has very little eternal value, and, on the reverse, with Him, we are very capable and worthy of valuable service.  Letting go of measuring ourselves by the world’s standards is a huge step in the right direction and is key to having a truly meaningful life. And being grounded and inspired are crucial to this process as is ensuring that we are taking care of all facets of our lives.  

The third step is to find out what really inspires us and then believe that to have the life we really want, we have the power to make it happen.  Way too often, we get inspired, but we don’t take the necessary steps to get really solid on the thing we want and we soon either forget or stop believing in the possibilities.  

That is where a good coach can help you get really clear on what you want and then hold that space for you until you can believe in yourself. It’s extremely important that this person allows you the flexibility to do it your way and then provide the encouragement and support to help you live the life you really want, not the way they did it.  This is the key to making the change without all the hustle, struggle, doubt, or fear.  

The challenge is finding Your More. Discovering what really inspires you to be your best self. You see, my More isn’t the same as yours.  Through a lot of trial and error, I found that mine is creating my own business and becoming a life transformation coach.  I loved working in the affordable housing industry when I was there, but God knew that there were aspects of my life that were not being fulfilled there. So he started dropping hints along my path and each one brought me a step closer to my More. 

With 30 years in my professional career, bible studies, and informal coaching of my team behind me, I already had a strong basis for life coaching. But my health challenges led me to the health coaching world to help complete the wellness and relationships realms of my education. And through my mastery coursework, I began to fully understand the relationship between the environments we were raised in and the impact they have on what we believe about ourselves.  Although I know I will continue to grow in these areas of life, I believe that I have the perfect combination of skills, experiences, and training to lead you to Live Your More. 

What I didn’t mention earlier is that this week we are celebrating the 50th episode of my podcast and the first recording/blog under the name Longing for More!  I am grateful you are here to celebrate this big day with me!

I know how valuable your time is and I appreciate your spending this time with me.  If you know of someone who might be encouraged by this message, please share it with them.  

Be sure to stop back next week for more Longing for More.  So go, have a great week, and Live Your More!