Although we are all born as originals, most of us have become imitators. I used to think about becoming like everyone else and joining the rat race. Yet I soon realized that if all the rats are in a race and you win, you simply become the Big Rat. I recommend that you get out of the rat race, stop being in a contest with society, and stop trying to please everybody.
Moreover, you are not to mimic the gifts of others. You are to stir up your own gift. Unfortunately, many people are jealous of other people’s gifts. Let me encourage you not to waste your time on jealousy. You should be so busy stirring up your gift that you don’t have time to be jealous of anyone else or to feel sorry for yourself.
Perhaps you are fifty-five, sixty-five, or seventy years old. You’re looking back over the last thirty or forty years and asking, “What have I done with my life? I’ve followed the crowd, and I haven’t developed my own gift.” If you believe you’re too old to use your gift, you’re believing a lie.
We read in the Bible that God went to people who were already past retirement age and recharged them. They have become noteworthy in history because they started over when others (even they themselves) thought their lives were almost over.
(See the stories of Abraham and Sarah in Genesis 18:11–15; 21:1–8, and Elizabeth and Zechariah in Luke 1.) Your gift will give you your youth back. Your gift will give you energy and strength. You will be healthier. You will stop talking about dying and start talking about living.
#ALIFEBEYONDTHEORDINARY
IT IS WELL
