Six years ago, we moved from a small town in Arkansas to a metropolitan Texas city that I hadn’t lived in since I was 3. I didn’t know how to get anywhere. I had to Google the location of Starbucks… and the drycleaners… and my dentist’s office. My familiarity with Arkansas roads was zero help in navigating Texas’ multiple interstates.
I used my Maps app to get everywhere, and I hated it because my heart felt out-of-place enough without Siri telling me where to turn.
As you’ve probably gathered from my story, Achievers hate feeling like beginners.
We want to automatically be good at something, even if we’ve never done it before. We want to jump to the end, skip the growing process, and get on with doing it already. We don’t want to ask questions because our pride will convince us that, if we ask for help, we’ll look weak, incapable, and unsuited for the job.
But God places us where we’ve never been, doing things we’ve never done, to transform us in new, more-than-we-can-imagine ways.
I’ve been writing for years, but this is the first time I’ve created a blog. I’ve been studying the Bible for years, but this is the first time I’ve been transformed by the book of John. I have two kids, so you’d think I’d have it down by now, but this is the first year my children have been these ages, in these grades, with these friends, and learning these things—so I don’t.
I have never been here before. And neither have you. So let’s quit acting like we are professionals at life.
Instead, in our newness, let us be thankful that His mercies are new each morning.
God gives us new mercies because He knows that in our sin, our shame, our trying, and our doing that His mercy is needed every day. He is clear that there will not be a time on this earth when we will have arrived, a day when we can bypass surrender to land at sufficient. His grace and mercy are given out each day precisely because, each day, we are being transformed into someone we’ve never been in some place we’ve never been.
I’m writing this blog about leaning less on self and more on the God of grace because I’m terrible at extending grace to myself. Or as our kids would say, I’m not good at it yet.
In our newness, let us preach the gospel of grace to our hearts.
After accepting His free gift, He and I can work together on my transformation to become more and more like Jesus. Then, I can preach the gospel of grace to myself by:
- Letting go of the belief that there is no margin for error.
- Agreeing that transformation can get ugly: parts of us will be peeled back, parts of us will be strengthened, and parts of us will be sheared off completely.
- Being patient with myself and remembering that being transformed into something new isn’t linear, and it certainly isn’t immediate.
And Achievers, these things don’t come easily to me. Letting go of control… are you kidding me? Allowing myself to be pruned, poked, and prodded? I’ll take a latte and a corner booth with a book instead, please. Patience is not a virtue with which I am familiar.
So I have to go on the offensive – I speak truth to myself hourly. I examine the thoughts entering my brain to see if they are truth, I get curious about the emotions rising up, and then I sit in all of it for a bit so that I can preach grace to my own little self. Not perfectly. Not every time. But I’m making forward progress.
In our newness, let us reach out to God all the more.
Instead of the lack of perfection bringing me low and making me feel less-than, I want my newness to be a cue for me to turn my insecurity over to God. God longs for us to share with Him what we’re feeling, and it’s a privilege for us to approach His throne of grace with boldness.
Being a beginner isn’t a negative just because it makes us feel uncomfortable. And Siri’s voice telling us how to navigate the roads in a new state isn’t a bad thing either (albeit very annoying). Achiever-Friends, if I had been afraid of becoming a rookie again, I never would have started this blog. Almost everything about this feels new: navigating new technology, learning new social media platforms, and reading and implementing new concepts and facets about Jesus and life. All of this newness is awkward and humbling. But the joy on the other side of this newness is incredible.
So Achievers, instead of avoiding anything that makes us feel like a newbie, let’s allow that newness to remind us of the new mercy God gives each day and to draw nearer to Him.
Pin for later:
This is a great one!
Susan, thank you so much sweet friend! -jill