I read a book by Don Miller called A Million Miles in a Thousand Years: What I’ve Learned While Editing My Life and it rocked my world. Really. It is a personal account of Don’s journey and the stories he is creating in his life, and how we too can create and live great stories in our own lives. It’s powerful stuff and I HIGHLY recommend it.
A while back, Don posted the “What If” Challenge on his blog. We all have “what if” questions that we think about, but what would happen if we actually followed through on our “what ifs”? What if instead of thinking and wondering about them, we did something about it and took action?
Don’s challenge is for a group (or you can do it solo too) to get together and write down a bunch of “what if” questions on an index card. Then the each person shares one “what if” to the group and everyone must follow through on that “what if” and report back to the group. Pretty interesting, ay? However, none of the “what ifs” can be things that are out of your control like “what if I lost my job?”, “what if I won the lottery?”, “what if my house exploded?” The questions need to be actionable, like “what if I quit my job?”, “what if I broke up with my boyfriend?”, “what if I went back to school?” or “what if I went on an actual audition?”
Reading the challenge really got me thinking. I have tons of “what ifs.”
So since I don’t have a local group, would YOU like join me and be a part of my group? I thought it might be cool if we shared one or two “what ifs” with each other and all posted about our “what if journeys” on our blogs so we could support one another. Doesn’t matter what your “what if” is as long as it means something to you. The whole point is for us to start DOING and stop wondering. Its time for all of us to create and live better stories. Our “what ifs” will all be different, some might take some time to accomplish and some my be done in a single act. So because of that I don’t want to set any time limits for our individual journeys, but rather a weekly check in. Mizzy suggested “what if Wednesday” which I think is a fabulous idea. We can each post a “what if” update on our blogs on Wednesday so that 1) there is a set day to be accountable to update everyone, and 2)everyone knows to check in and support each other/give feedback, etc on Wed. If your “what if” doesn’t take a long time to accomplish and you are done by the next Wednesday, why not choose another “what if” on your list and go again? I don’t think we can ever do too many “what ifs”!!!
“Here’s the moral of the story, if you will. What you’re teaching the group is that God gives life to you to live, and you can either tell meaningful stories or boring stories. We can’t wait around anymore for God to make something happen in our lives, meanwhile we shop at Bed Bath and Beyond. The truth is, God gives you wisdom and direction and morality and His presence and support, and then asks you to live, to conquer, to risk and experience the whole of life. People grow when they are in motion.” – Don Miller
If you’d like to join me, please sign up below with the URL to your blog so we can all find & support each other on our What If journeys!
