ALMOST

Have your realized somethings about your life and some people who are in your life that you can no longer accommodate? Nothing negative about them or whatever it was that you were doing or entertaining - I am referring to a shift in season.  Many of us don't realize when our shift is on. Seriously, we miss it!  We were almost there and guess what happened to prevent us from experiencing the shift in our lives - FAMILIARITY. 

The familiar face, the familiar feeling or anything familiar in your life that was attached to your soul begins to draw you backwards.   I need you to realize the importance of completing your transition process toward the next level in your life or your next assignment.  Read what the Apostle Paul said, "Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus" - Philippians 3:13, 14. 

There comes a time in each person's life when there is a shift and this shift is not automatic. It is an opportunity for the individual to thrust himself/herself toward a higher level.  There are three key phrases in Paul's statement.  For you and I to be able to embrace the shift in our lives we must:

1- Realize that we are yet to apprehend.  We are not there, God is not finished with us yet and regardless of the ground covered, tests completed, trials overcame, we are still in the hands of the Potter.  One more point - none of us knows it all. We are all still in the classroom learning. 

2.  We must  forget and release ourselves.  Some attitudes and mindsets MUST change. Everything must shift. There are some trees that can tell us that a shift in season has occurred because it begins to shed its leaves. When it is autumn season trees begin to shed and at the peak of this season some trees are completely without leaves.  We must have this same kind of mindset and attitude towards our shift in life. For some of us we are going into our next season friendless, without anything familiar.  You must be willing to release yourself and forget your former life, not because it was something negative but more because it is something needed. 

3.  You must move forward and upward.  It is not you and your friend's shift. It may not be you and your spouse's shift. It is your shift in life.  You - solo, alone, by yourself....got it!  Paul said that he had to reach forward to those things which are ahead.  He had to move himself away from familiarity and embrace with effort and strength those things which were ahead of him.  This can only be accomplished when you begin to drop leaves like the tree.  The only way you are going to free yourself from the mediocre and mundane things in life is for you to release yourself from them and press forward.   No one can do this for you - you must embrace your shift. 

So many people were almost there...the next level was right before them but they failed to press toward it. They permitted those things which were behind to hinder their progress.  For something to be behind you means that you were already in the process of leaving.  Remember Lot's wife my dear reader.  She was on her way from Sodom and Gomorrah but she never made it to her destiny.  Some friends are seasonal, jobs are seasonal, places where we reside are also seasonal. Our lives are full of seasons - the purpose of seasons is for you and I to be able to discern the time in which we live; personally.  I am not referring to summer, winter, autumn and spring. I am referring to when a shift is occurring and we need to make the proper decisions to embrace what is ahead of us. 

It is time for you to stop ALMOST being able to obtain, ALMOST being able to complete,ALMOST being able to leave, ALMOST be able to execute, ALMOST being able and release yourself from familiarity and thrust yourself toward your destiny.  Is your shift on? Remember Lot's wife!