Move out of the Nest into the Next

Jun 28, 2012Heal from the past

Last week I wrote about my new direction, of letting a significant part of my business go in mentoring writers. I ended that note with, God has pushed me out of the nest into the next. 

It’s a fitting metaphor, don’t you think?

Sometimes we long for comfort so much that we court ease, and once we find that ease, we hold onto it with a vice grip. We love sameness. We love predictability. We love our own version of normal.

And then God messes with us, doesn’t He? He begins to make us uneasy in our happy little world. The soft nest of our own making suddenly feels spiky. We are no longer content with the same old same old. We sense a restlessness beneath the surface.

Questions like, “Is this all there is?” flutter through our mind. Late at night in the stillness of our bedroom, that unsettled part of us wanders, daydreams, and wonders what the future could be if we’d just let go of what is comfortable.

Fear holds us back, though, doesn’t it?

  • Fear of the unknown.
  • Fear of flying from the nest.
  • Fear of failure.
  • Fear of success.
  • Fear of looking like an idiot.
  • Fear of not knowing how to navigate the next route.
  • Fear of financial stress.
  • Fear of what others would think. 
  • Fear of burnout.

Do any of these resonate with you? I easily listed them because I experienced every single one of them before and AFTER I leapt from the nest into the next. It’s natural.

But I got to the point where I’d either listen to the prodding of the Lord, or I’d ignore Him clear out, and always wonder what my life would’ve been like if I just trusted God. That potential regret overides my fear.

So here’s a question for you. You can answer it here or with your friends or spouse or quietly on a piece of paper. Here it is:

What is your nest? And what is the next? What prevents you from moving from one to the other?

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