time, devotion and desire

Today marks Day 1 of rehearsal for Alice In Wonderland!  And in a mere THREE WEEKS, I’ll take the stage in a blonde wig and pretend to be a very confused little girl.  (Minus the wig, that’s me all the time.)

I was able to pick up my script last Saturday, so I’ve had about a week to look things over and start the memorization process.  This is only a one hour show (praise the Lord), so I have far fewer lines, then say, a two and a half hour show (like Wizard of Oz was).

So far, I’ve got 19 out of 31 pages memorized.  I’m actually quite proud of that feat, because it hasn’t been all that hard to set these words to memory.  The hard part has been finding the QUIET time I need for proper memorization.  Naptimes have been spent in my kitchen, pacing back and forth, talking to myself.  Because of this show and the time it takes away from my “normal” life, I’ll be choosing Alice over the blog many days in the next three weeks.  Just a heads up.  Balancing all of my responsibilities will be….interesting.  But I know I can do it.

Which is what I wanted to talk about today.

Last week when I told you guys that I got the Alice role, I was a little surprised by the number of people who said that they COULDN’T do this.  (And I was very thankful for all of your sweet comments – made my day and I’m sorry I didn’t have time to reply to each one of them).

You see, you CAN do ________.  Insert anything there.  You CAN lose weight.  You CAN get stronger.  You CAN ask for a promotion.  You CAN fight through the pain of natural childbirth.  You CAN even act like a very confused little girl in Alice In Wonderland.

You can do all these things because God gave you everything you need to do so.  Philippians 4:13 tells us so – He STRENGTHENS us to do all things!

And when He created you, He gave you drive, strength, determination, courage, brains, wit…all of that, He put inside of you.  In each of us.  From conception, you’ve had these things in you in varying degrees.  They’re already there – you just have to develop them.

It takes three things for developing a skills set:  TIME, DEVOTION and DESIRE.

Example:  Right now, I’m making TIME for Alice.  During naptime, before bed, and starting tonight, I’ll be making time for a daily rehearsal with the cast.  The fact that I’m making time for this, means I’m DEVOTED to it.  My DESIRE comes from a place of not wanting to fail.  I DESIRE to succeed.  And so I will.  Desire might be the most important piece.**

I just want to encourage any of you who might be feeling down right now.  Maybe you haven’t reached a weight loss goal or had a call back for a job interview.  I want to encourage you to stick with it.  You can do anything.  You were perfectly and precisely made to succeed.

It’s in you.

You simply have to reach in there and pull it out.

QUESTION:  Fill in the blank:  I don’t think I’m good at ____________, but I’m going to try!

splendid…lindsay

**Wanted to add – if you keep trying and trying at something that you have no real DESIRE to be doing, maybe you shouldn’t be doing it in the first place.  See…you don’t HAVE to be good at everything.  You just COULD be good.  I think knowing that is vital for people who tend to overcommit (ME!).  Pick and choose the things that you have the DESIRE to do (and in some cases NEED to do, i.e. you might not have the desire to lose weight but you might need to lose weight for your health) and commit fully to those things.  Just an extra thought.