RKCWRITES
  • Home
  • RKC Blogs
  • RKC Speaks
  • Home
  • RKC Blogs
  • RKC Speaks
Search by typing & pressing enter

YOUR CART

Picture

12/6/2021 0 Comments

life begins when we show up, not when we grow up

Picture
​Saturday, I had the opportunity to speak to middle and high school students at a youth rally. I talked to them about serving their community – mainly by sharing the experiences I've had partnering with Sole4Souls.

But somewhat unexpectedly, I found myself talking to them about an even bigger idea. I found myself telling them life doesn’t begin when we grow up, it begins when we start to show up.

There was a natural connection between those two messages in my life. My support of Soles4Souls has been life changing. Yes, because it is rewarding to contribute to the world in a way you know is meaningful. But equally important – maybe more – I’ve learned a lot of opportunities in life don’t come when the time is right, they come when we decide the right time is now.

I think we can do a disservice to our kids when we spend a lot of time talking to them about their futures. We unintentionally create a mental divide between today and tomorrow. Tomorrow can begin sounding like a faraway day when life begins. Today can begin to sound like the day I have to suffer through to get one step closer to living.

The thing is - for some of us - that far away day can arrive and we sadly discover it doesn’t look much different than today used to look.

I told the kids there was a day I would have said I’d never go to Honduras. The time was NEVER going to be right for THAT opportunity. Then I had a conversation with my friend Buddy about the work his organization is doing in Honduras, and something inside of me started begging me to go see it for myself.

The ‘tomorrow’ me said no way. I’ll do that when I grow up. But this little voice inside me wouldn’t let up on this idea of Honduras – a little voice that kept calling me to show up. I told the kids I’ve come to recognize that little voice as God in my life. It’s not loud, it’s just relentless. It’s a little voice that says you can keep waiting until you grow up, but I won’t let you sleep until you show up.

My experience in Honduras opened my eyes and heart to things about our humanity that we all share. It opened my eyes and heart to the reality that ‘us and them’ is a myth that we create – it’s not reality – that’s a significant life lesson. A life lesson I almost missed.

That Honduras experience smacked me with the truth that my eyes and heart have remained closed to much of life because I’d been waiting on the right day to start living my life.

It’s been a long time since I’ve been one of the kids I was talking to Saturday. But it hasn’t been long at all since I was one of the many of them who are using their todays to dream of tomorrow instead of living the today that will shape it.

It’s Monday, and maybe there are some places in your life where you are just waiting for that opportunity to say today is the day. Well, be careful, what you may be in is a standoff. It’s quite possible that opportunity is simply waiting on you.... waiting on you to say I’m not waiting any more.

Today I’m deciding life isn’t about growing up – it’s about showing up.
0 Comments

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    Robert "Keith" Cartwright

    I am a friend of God, a dad, a runner who never wins, but is always searching for beauty in the race.

    Archives

    June 2025
    May 2025
    April 2025
    March 2025
    February 2025
    January 2025
    December 2024
    November 2024
    October 2024
    September 2024
    August 2024
    July 2024
    June 2024
    May 2024
    April 2024
    March 2024
    February 2024
    January 2024
    December 2023
    November 2023
    October 2023
    September 2023
    August 2023
    July 2023
    June 2023
    May 2023
    April 2023
    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    November 2019
    September 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    December 2017
    September 2014

    Categories

    All Faith Fatherhood Life Mental Health Perserverance Running

Proudly powered by Weebly