If You Want a Growth Season: A Doable Game Plan to Defeat Bad Habits & Win the Ultimate You

Watching them plant hope, and bulbs, and possibility, in the early morning light, it’s pretty clear that it’s true…

And it’s true for the tired guy procrastinating, and the brave woman struggling to change old habits, and every parent, and every teenager, and every single one of us going through hard things:

“You may always make mistakes—but that is very different than always making excuses. And the good news is: Every mistake, offers the courageous grace to make a course-correction. And Jesus, the One living in you, knows the right course, because He is The Way. “

It   feels   like there’s only one of you. The you right now. The one who Feels All The Things.

But believe the impossible things, because it’s true: There are two of you, really.

The Short-Term You — and the Long-Term You. The Now-You — and The Becoming You.

The Immediate You.   And the Ultimate You.

And if you only loved the right now Immediate You — and let The Immediate You come and go and do whatever she wanted, whatever made her Feel. All. The. Good. Things., whatever made her happiest right now—- you wouldn’t be loving the Ultimate You.

It’s true personally, and it’s true in parenting, and it’s true in leadership, especially leadership of self:

There isn’t one fibre in any pulsing heart that likes seeing the Short-Term Immediate You Hurt.

But you’ve got to love the Long-Term Ultimate You wider and deeper  and longer — the You that can ultimately be —  so you’re willing to take the resistance of your Immediate Self right now.

“Change is a marathon won by a million baby steps. Every choice is another step on your pilgrimage toward the person you’re choosing to be.“

Love the Ultimate You. Love the Ultimate Person enough to raise the bar for the Short-term Person. 

Be deeply committed to the Ultimate You, and don’t flippantly sell out the long-term Ultimate You.

Sometimes the short-term Immediate You   cannot   have what she wants —   so that the long-term Ultimate You can be who she ultimately wants to be.

Sometimes the short-term Immediate You won’t feel loved —- because this is about ultimately loving the long-term Ultimate You.

Sometimes the short-term Immediate You can’t have immediate gratification — so you can give the long-term Ultimate You what is ultimately best. 

Do the hard and holy things for the Ultimate You, and tell yourself:

You may always make mistakes—but that is very different than always making excuses. Every mistake offers the courageous grace to make a course-correction. And Jesus, the One living in you, knows the right course, because He is The Way.

“The things you really want most — are  found in the road you’re really avoiding the most.“

Be a tender guide to your soul:

Expect mistakes— but accept no excuses. Mistakes happen—but berating ourselves doesn’t have to happen.

Every day: expect it to be hard. Every day: Expect it to be worth it.

Change is a marathon won by a million baby steps. Every choice is another step on your pilgrimage toward the person you’re choosing to be. 

Slip ups aren’t downfalls if you rise again.

Focusing on what is going right — and on the Perfect, Right One Himself, who smiles grace over you — is the only way to keep going.

Back up plans keep you from giving up goals.

Today’s failure successfully gives you information on how to succeed tomorrow.

And honestly? The things you really want most — are  found in the road you’re really avoiding the most. 

Just keep saying it over and over again:

“And Jesus is your road — so your road conditions always give you enough grace to do exactly what you don’t feel enough for.“

You’re meant to do hard & holy things because they are the next thing — to get to the best thing.

There are two of you — the Immediate You. And the Ultimate You. Who are you going to ultimately focus on?

All of us have things in front of us that are hard and they hurt. And you have to keep whispering it to your soul like a compass: The things you really want most — are  found in the road you’re really avoiding the most. And Jesus is your road — so your road conditions always give you enough grace to do exactly what you don’t feel enough for.

And we all have a Father, and it literally killed Him to see us hurting through the hard — but the reality is:

When our own Short-Term Immediate Self is hurting, our Father’s hurting with us — to grow us into more. To grow us more like Him.  

When they are finished planting the last of the bulbs, they water them slowly, trusting miracles happen, that hope can unfurl one day at a time, that things can profoundly change.

I set pots in all this light, and I believe.

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