First, I will treat you to the condensed version: “What the #%*& am I waiting for?”
- About twenty-three years ago, in a clear audible voice, God told me to write a book. So I did. Then, I paid $10,000 (yep, that’s the correct number of zeros) to have it edited and self-published. Two thousand copies were dropped off on my front porch a few months later. Then, I stared at them, realizing I knew nothing about marketing. And apparently, I knew nothing about trusting a “Christian publisher” who knew nothing about editing. So they languished in my basement until I had them burned. Literally. I rewrote the book and had five hundred printed. Most of those are still in boxes.
- I continually claim I want to be healthy, yet I have started, changed, and failed on more diets than I ever wanted to admit. Oh yeah – and – mint chocolate ice cream!
- I am determined to start running again. I dust off my running shoes, trip over boxes of books trying to get out the door. Then, have to rest with an ice pack on my ankle.
- I have been writing a blog for 20 years and give up whenever I consider submitting articles for publication. When writing, I sometimes crack myself up with my weird sense of humor and occasionally impress myself when writing about some awesome AHA moment. But I’m likely just living in the light of my own ego.
So, that’s the condensed story of me getting and staying stuck for most of my adult life. Unfortunately, I can’t give you a number of years because I have never been good at “adulting” well!
Now, here I am, looking down the barrel of old age and the reality that I am not a modern-day female Methuselah who has lots of time to get my act together.
James Finley says of Step Two of AA, “The admitting then brings us to a place in which, if this is up to me, it is not looking good. As long as we were still holding on to this ideology of our brokenness as having the final say in who we are, we were not capable of seeing this because we actually had faith in our own brokenness as the power to name who we are.”
Another enlightening moment materialized for me after reading Dr. Joe Dispenza’s work, which I wrote about in my last post. He tells us to “Stop telling the story of your past and start telling the story of your future.”
Apparently, all of our “stuckness” is of our own making because we have allowed others to define us. That gets embedded into our beliefs about ourselves and directs our thoughts and actions. Fun stuff!
F. Scott Fitzgerald said:
“For what it’s worth… it’s never too late, or in my case too early, to be whoever you want to be. There’s no time limit. Start whenever you want. You can change or stay the same. There are no rules to this thing. We can make the best or the worst of it. I hope you make the best of it. I hope you see things that startle you. I hope you feel things you’ve never felt before. I hope you live a life you’re proud of, and if you’re not, I hope you have the courage to start over again.”
And so, here I sit after fracturing a pelvic bone and being told by the doctor to SIT for 4-6 weeks! I don’t listen well and certainly don’t “SIT” well! But, this incident certainly got my attention. Actually, I believe it was God that got my attention:
GOD: So, Linda, there you sit on your broken parts, checking off the days until you are mobile again. While you’re sitting there, have you come up with a new excuse for not using those gifts I gave you? You do know I never created a female version of Methuselah, right?
I’m losing my patience with you, Linda Russell. You don’t want me to lose my patience (read: Job and Jonah).
ME: Oops.
Alrighty then. Here I go. Today, I will spend my sitting time finding a Christian Publishing Company that accepts articles. Submit one. Say a prayer. Send. Then, celebrate with a well-deserved nap!
Fun Factoid: A French woman, Jeanne Calment, was certified as the oldest living person by the Guinness Book of Records. Then, it was discovered that her daughter stole her identity to avoid paying inheritance taxes!
PASSION, PURPOSE & POOPYHEADS 