The Live At Glastonbury (Where We ‘Roughed it’ In A Motorhome) Album
I have a pencil sketch of life panning out over the coming years. It's open to change, of course, but on the whole I have goals. It's quite a simple plan, that involves working hard then travelling, and backpacking on a shoestring doesn't appeal. I'm also aware of sayings such as 'best laid plans' and 'life is what happens whilst you're busy making plans'. I'm also aware of "The real troubles in your life are apt to be things that never crossed your worried mind, the kind that blindsides you at 4pm on some idle Tuesday" (Baz Luhrmann). But the overall picture is sketched out.
However, there seems to be a view amongst some Christians, that unless we're 'out of our comfort zone' or more recently 'stepping out of the boat' or unless we're struggling or worse, we are not living out God's plan for our lives. To me, this is not meant to be a burden nor a challenge to be in a position of making us feel like we're getting out there etc, it is quite simply, encouragement. I wouldn't want someone knocking on my door (metaphorically speaking) because they had been told to or felt obliged to. It's on the same level as giving through obligation, and not cheerfully (I've shared my thoughts on giving before >> CLICK HERE TO READ). It's utterly pointless, and more importantly it's potentially damaging to the individual. We will be infinitely more effective by doing what we're good at, not what we feel (or we are told) we should be good at.
I once met a Christian who said he was training to be a solicitor. His reasoning was genuine, but misguided. He said he thought it was important for Christians to be involved in law and he wanted to have a worthy occupation. His implication that some occupations are more important than others and only a handful of occupations are worthy, like nursing, is wrong. There cannot be Christian occupations and other occupations, it's elitist. And cobblers, which, of course, are worthy tradesmen.
To go back to my post about roles in which I share my thoughts on GIANT lemon buying and why we can't all be GIANT lemon buyers because no one would be there to make the GIANT lemons >> CLICK HERE TO READ, maybe, just hopefully maybe this is what I'm supposed to be doing. It makes me happy, and with a bit of luck and the wind in the right direction (Christian teaching) I'm where I'm supposed to be, doing what I'm supposed to be doing, with the added bonus of actually enjoying it. And maybe, by me being where I am, doing what I'm doing, I can enable others to be where they are supposed to be, doing what they're supposed to be doing. And everyone's happy. And everyone's effective.
After my previous post about education >> AND THRICE, CLICK HERE (YES! I've now managed to shoehorn in three previous posts) my brother emailed me two TED talks, by Sir Ken Robinson:
Sir Ken Robinson says schools kill creativity
Sir Ken Robinson: Bring on the learning revolution!
They are both less than 20 minutes and, if you can find the time, are well worth watching.