I Quit Today!
I quit today!
I quit the things that aren’t my highest calling!
I quit the things that don’t bring me joy!
I quit what isn’t my primary gifting!
I quit feeling obligated.
For instance:
I quit interior design…for clients.
I quit real estate…for clients.
I quit my “Bright Mornings” Devotionals …officially.
I quit striving to build the ‘next thing’.
I quit trying to figure out the next season.
Instead;
I went to my website and I quit!
I unpublished page after page.
If my website was cluttered (which it was), it’s no wonder my brain 🧠 was cluttered!
If my focus was split between 8 things, I needed that to change.
The reason I quit came from a conversation I had with God.
I asked Him, or rather He asked me, “What do you want to do?”
I didn’t come up with a clear answer immediately, so I replied with what I DIDN’T want to do. I listed the things I’m currently doing, but don’t get excited about anymore.
This is when the disabling of tabs on my website (and my brain 🧠) commenced:
I don’t feel jazzed about doing interior design for someone else, I have more than enough of my own projects to keep me busy.
I am not eager to be someone’s real estate broker. I keep my license to facilitate our own projects and to be able to serve as a referral between “my people” - the people I love. When I get to do that - I love it!
For the past 4 years I’ve been recording and releasing my ‘Bright Morning’ video devotionals to a group of over 100 women. One day though, I just stopped. That tells me I must not have the passion for it anymore. I loved it until I didn’t, so I quit simply doing it out of a feeling of obligation.
I don’t feel the need to publish another magazine until it’s time to coach a church to reach their city in a creative and effective way.
Once the cutting was done - what was left in the menu of my website?
Speaker. Author. Coach.
Wow! Those words were the exact three words I wrote earlier that day in my prayer journal.
What does that look like for me?
“I want to continue speaking, whether that’s at Life Church in Green Bay, for other churches or for corporate events. I enjoy being on podcasts - both mine and others. Again, that’s speaking.
I want to be more attentive in writing books, blogs, and even captions.
I want to continue coaching pastors and churches! My one-year contract in Toronto was effective and fruitful in all areas of growth, raising up leaders, and launching new ministries!
Speak.Write.Coach.
I thought - Yes! THAT’S what excites me. As it turns out, I don’t have to define myself. I simply have to be myself.
And as soon as I acknowledged that - God confirmed it in the craziest way!
I scrolled down and watched an embedded video on my website. A video I haven’t been able to edit since my site was built in 2017 and there were 3 words that came across the screen…
speaker.author.coach.
😨
I had to scroll up, then back down, do the eye-popping cartoon eyes 👀 💥 👀 motion, then rub my eyes to believe what I was seeing. Seven years ago, when my web designers asked me; “Sonny, if you had to narrow down all you do to the 3 most important, what would they be?” I gave them the same three words I admitted to God in my journal THIS week. 🫣
I just had the personal revelation of all personal revelations. The thing I wanted to do most? I am now doing more of it, and finding the most passion in it!
Who knew?! Well, God did. He was waiting on me to slow down and filter.
I appreciate the nudge by author, Emily P. Freeman in The Next Right Thing to consider what I want to do most! She writes;
“Just because things change doesn’t mean you chose wrong in the first place. Just because you’re good at something doesn’t mean you have to do it forever. Today, perhaps your next right thing is to slow down long enough to see what’s taking up space in your life, to stop looking around and to settle in and listen. If that feels hard, it could be that you’re spinning around, looking for the next hundred things rather than the next one thing.”
This next part resonated in my soul like the strumming of a stringed instrument. She writes;
“Maybe you need a reminder to release your pursuit of what is productive, profitable, impressive, or expected and instead consider this: What is essential?”
Now that I’ve taken that step, I feel free to focus on writing messages, to speak more, to write blogs and books, and to coach our staff, other church staffs, or people at The Reserve.
Emily also said in her book, “We bring what we believe about ourselves and what we believe about God into every situation, gathering, and decision. The truth is, I don’t have to let the uncertainty of my place in a room be the only voice that gets a say.”
Here is the thought I want to leave you with. It’s a thought I’ve spent the past couple weeks intentionally and thoroughly chewing on...
“If you don’t know what you want, you don’t know what to say no to.”
What do YOU need to quit? Think on it, then start quitting.