How many of you worry about life plans and your potential?

I recently read an article from NPR on the roaring 20s. No, not flapper dresses and probation. But “the defining decade” in your life.

As someone in my twenties, I was awestruck at the potential held in these 10 years.

“We know that 80 percent of life’s most defining moments happen by age 35. We know that 70 percent of lifetime wage growth happens in the first 10 years of a career. We know that more than half of Americans are married or living with or dating their future partner by 30. Our personalities change more in our 20s than any other time. Our fertility peaks. Our brain caps off its last growth spurts … The things that we do and the things that we don’t do are going to have an enormous effect across years and even generations.” 

When I finished reading those stats aloud to my husband and picked my jaw up off the floor, I had a moment of fear. The “what if you don’t make the most of these years” and “start living for more” crept up to my conscious.

Whether you are in your twenties or in your sixties, I think we all have the same fears. What if I don’t use my life for the most?

About a year ago, Benj shared a story about the African Impala and how these animals (the ones that live in zoos) don’t live to their potential because they don’t know what their potential is. I was encouraged and struck by the capacity in these animals that they don’t even know exists. What if I have the potential for so much more? 

I have the opposite problem as the Impala. I see an ocean of opportunity yet sometimes it seems so vast I don’t know where to begin. No matter which side of the fence you are on, you have the same problem. What are you going to do? How will you make the most of it to make an impact?

I have good news.

Rom 8:28: “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”

Jer 29:11: “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”

Prov 3:5: “Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.”

Eph 2:10: “For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”

And the list goes on…

Because my life is not about what I am going to do with it… It is about what He wants to do with it. So while I worry, over-think, and consider far too many what-ifs, God is there whispering in my ear, “In all your ways acknowledge me, and I will make your paths straight.”

Ah, the breath of fresh air knowing it is about Him, not me.