I stood in the shower on a Sunday morning letting the water cascade over my bald head as I reflected on the view I had a couple of weeks ago at Frontier Ranch in Colorado.
Two friends and I had spent about an hour at the camp just appreciating the beauty of the surroundings and marveling at the facilities. At one point, one of the guys, who had actually been a camper there many years ago, declared, “Imagine the vision it took to create this place.”
I couldn’t imagine it. As I began toweling off I began to mentally wrestle with my inability to think big. Even though I’m a pretty big guy, 6’7” and 250 pounds, for the most part, I live in a small thinking world. As the “courage guy” this is something I’ve been working on and have had some small successes. In reality, I still play life pretty safe, comfortable and close to the vest.
About an hour later our pastor preached on the need to think bigger and to trust God when we courageously step out in faith. Coincidence? I think not. Our church is in the midst of a large building campaign that is requiring us to think big and to be uncomfortable. He began the message with this prayer from Sir Francis Drake:
Disturb us, Lord, when
We are too well pleased with ourselves,
When our dreams have come true
Because we have dreamed too little,
When we arrived safely
Because we sailed too close to the shore.
Disturb us, Lord, when
with the abundance of things we possess
We have lost our thirst
For the waters of life;
Having fallen in love with life,
We have ceased to dream of eternity
And in our efforts to build a new earth,
We have allowed our vision
Of the new Heaven to dim.
Disturb us, Lord, to dare more boldly,
To venture on wider seas
Where storms will show your mastery;
Where losing sight of land,
We shall find the stars.
We ask you to push back
The horizons of our hopes;
And to push into the future
In strength, courage, hope and love. AMEN
I believe that most of us are capable of far more than we can imagine. Our desire to be safe and comfortable holds us back.
In my desire to think bigger I need to be disturbed by my small thinking. In order to think bigger I need to venture further from the shore. In order to make a bigger difference I need to thirst for the waters of life. In order to stop thinking small I need to dare more boldly. In order to think bigger I need to have more strength, courage, hope and love.
As I continue to process through this desire to think bigger and have greater vision I welcome your thoughts on how I might go about doing this. Often times, when we continue to look through the same window we see the same thing over and over again. Someone else can look through the same window and see something entirely different. Your insights would be greatly appreciated!
How about you? Are you held back by your own small thinking? Do you have a desire to lead a more courageous life?
What will you do today to venture a little further from the shore?
Have a STRONG and COURAGEOUS day!
Looking for a speaker for an upcoming event? I’d love to be that guy. You can reach me at dave@cultivatecourage.com or 952-200-7499.
You can now buy the book “Cultivate Courage” on Amazon! https://amzn.to/2N2PBVJ
