But did you? This question was brought up by mere joking this summer while Pruk Kids were enjoying their many survival classes by our fun safety conscious neighbor.
Every year we would print out a “summer bucket list,” and this year I went researching and decided that if I crossed off one more “chalk art, butterfly catching, bubble blowing” line I was going to go crazy! #boring
So with the help of Pruk Kids we made our own Summer Survival Bucket List. We enlisted the assistance of our safety neighbor to teach the kids a lot of things I was clueless on- ok, pretty much most of it.
This initially sounded like a little bit of fun for Pruk Kids and a little bit of a break for me. When summer was over it was SO MUCH MORE!
In our efforts to learn how to survive this summer we all learned that we “didn’t die,” but instead learned how to LIVE!
My Zac turned 8 in May and is usually a more quiet, not so rowdy boy who enjoys make his mamma’s life easy. But something happened this summer. Something ignited and changed inside of him. He began embracing adventure and challenges with determination in his eyes. It was a total transformation, but many times he would ask for my permission to do something a little risky like start a fire, climb on the roof and throw airplanes or parachute G.I. Joes off. Initially I wanted to say, “NO! That’s not safe!” Thankfully I asked myself, “But will he die?” If the answer was “no,” I allowed him (within reason) to experiment and seek adventure. I’m forever grateful I made the right decisions. Zac isn’t the same boy he was 6 months ago and thankfully he didn’t die.
Then there are my girls, Kayley and Zoey. One a total free spirit, the other a more sensitive, rule following boss. There were many new things they both wanted to do, but fear was stopping my sensitive daughter by not only excluding herself from the survival activities, but by trying to take her free-spirited sister out of the fun as a way of protecting her. Many times we asked her to process through her fears and ask, “But will you die?” Thankfully neither died.
Those may seem like silly kid examples, but the more I really started thinking about this phrase, the more I really began to like it, to the point of buying a shirt that says it.
Many times in life we hold ourselves back from great and exciting adventures, endeavors and callings because we are too afraid of “dying.” In all seriousness our every day life situations won’t cause us to literally “die,” but could be causing death in other areas like our dreams and purposes coming to pass. When we live in the mundane routine of our “comfort zones” we can never step out to accomplish anything of significance, anything bigger than ourselves.
Sometimes we even allow others to influence and put their fears on us as they “worry about us dying,” which can also cause us to stay back and not step out into the things awaiting our pursuit.
I don’t want to be a person or mom who is always so worried about “dying” that I forget or even stop others from living! I want to be the one helping propel people into their God-given dreams, callings and purposes — even if they seem scary to me. There are too many opportunities and areas of impact that need to be fulfilled for us to hold ourselves and others back. The world needs us, people need us, and God needs us to trust in Him and not give into the fear of dying, so we can do something “scary!”
Realize that one day you will get to the end of your life when it’s time to go and leave this earth, and there will be an even greater question being asked than, “But did you die?” That question will be, “BUT DID YOU LIVE?” #butdidyoudie #butdidyoulive
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