Start where you are...

 "Start where you are, Use what you have. Do what you can." - Arthur Ashe

Jordan and I adopted this quote when we were on a tight budget and had some projects around the house we wanted to do.  We started this little sing-songy chant we would recite to ourselves when we found ourselves wanting to run to home depot or go buy something new.  We would look at each other and one of us would start singing, "Using what we have!  Using what we have!  Using what we have!"  and we would skip around the garage trying to repurpose something that otherwise looked like junk or something unusable.  We got pretty creative!  I redid my kitchen using paint we had and we remodeled the island using old pallet wood and some corbels I bought in Canton during first Monday.  It really actually completely transformed the space.  We did a few other things also just looking around at what we already had in front of us.  

This concept can be taken through other places in our lives as well.  If you feel inadequate to do something you feel called to do or even just WANT to do, but don't feel like you have the resources to accomplish it, just start with what you CAN do!  For me, I feel called to reach others with stories of what I have gone through and somehow try and help someone else.  I feel like I need to write, for whatever reason.  I may not have finished high school in the conventional way (GED), or ever been to college, but I know that for some reason I feel compelled to do this.  Like I have mentioned before, maybe it's just a personal thing, maybe this isn't for anyone else but me and my own mental health, and I am A-OKAY with that! So, I look around and think, what DO I have to accomplish this... well, I have a kitchen table, words to write and a laptop.  I can start there, using what I have. (a fresh cup of coffee from my Nespresso machine doesn't hurt either!)  I also know that I am called to homeschool this year.  I can't afford expensive curriculums and our daily schedule is really lax, but my kids are seven and five.  This is what I can do right now and I feel like it is enough.  

I know that we are each in different places in our lives, and I know that God has gifted each person with individual talents and gifts.  If you look at this image, the words "Bloom where you are Planted"  really puts into perspective what God calls us to do.  I have been planted in THIS house in THIS town.  I have been planted as the mother of THESE kids, the wife to THIS man, the neighbor to THOSE people, a member of the church I attend and in a place of leadership at MOPS.  This is where I'm planted right now, these are my people and THIS is my mission field.  I AM in the season to do what God has gifted me with.  I don't have to wait for some grand and glorious announcement from God that I am finally mature enough to do His will.  I can start now.  I can put yesterday behind me and trust that today, where I am, IS His will.  I am living it daily.  If we press in close to Jesus, spend time in His word and allow ourselves to live each day on purpose, we WILL be living the life we are supposed to be living.  If we sit and wait for the day to arrive, it never will.  Act now, don't wait for tomorrow because tomorrow may never come.  

(follow this link to where I found this image.)