Some of us feel as though we are living in a cage. We are not happy with the confinement of our current sphere of life. We desire to expand our territory, to venture out into the wide world and see what could happen. But, for some reason, we stay in our cages and hope for the best.
A pet hamster has a cage. I used to have a hamster when I was a kid, but it died because I forgot to feed it one too many times. That hamster would have been safer and better off out in the wild than under the irresponsible supervision of a 9 year old.
In a hamster cage, there is typically food, water on demand, wood chips and stuff to tunnel through and sleep in. Then there is the hamster wheel. A hamster wheel was designed to give the little guy exercise while being cooped up in his cage. It was meant as a substitute for real challenge, real adventure, and the real stuff of what hamsters are meant to do out in the wild. Well, at least the hamster is getting exercise. That’s more than we can say for ourselves sometimes.
We all know what it’s like to live in a cage. Some of us have always done so– so we cannot imagine what life is like outside. A hamster only has a few options of things to do inside his cage. He can eat, drink, sleep, run on his wheel, or tunnel and climb. So often we say we don’t have time for stuff, we can’t possibly fit another thing into our lives. But what if we are only seeing what it inside of our cages and we are not even considering that there may be more options? What if there are some things in our lives that if we subtracted them, we would have space to live our destiny?
In case you think I have got it all together, I don’t. I am writing this post for the benefit of me as well as you. Here are some things that I do just to do sometimes out of habit, sometimes for comfort, and sometimes for no reason at all. These are things like: eating without thinking first, watching some sort of entertainment without thinking first, reading stuff you don’t really need to ingest, listening to stuff that can wait, picking up the phone to talk when you could think or pray first. None of this stuff is inherently bad, but do I think first before I do them? Thinking first– this, I believe, is the key to an intentional life.
So often, we forget that there is a world outside the cage, outside of the things we are used to doing everyday. If we removed the distractions and the stuff, we may have eyes to see that world more clearly. There are things outside of your cage that God may be challenging you to do today. Instead of exhausting yourself on that hamster wheel saying you don’t have time because of what is in your cage, maybe you should make some space, get out there and see what happens. Post that blog you were afraid to post. Call that person you barely know and figure out when you can meet. Try something that is out of your comfort zone. Do it with intentionality. Do it because you can. Un-domesticate your life. Take a chance and step into who you were made to be.
In what ways do you feel trapped inside your cage? How do you plan to get out?
Leading by Design 