To Be The Warrior For Your Life

We each have one, singular task of a lifetime.

That task is to face the central struggle of your life.

You are not here to avoid it, distract from it or numb out because of it.

You are also not here to blame your struggle on anyone else.

You are here to FACE it.

Perhaps you didn’t know that, underneath what may feel like a mundane life, you are a warrior.

Your primary struggle(s) emerged from the space within you that already had its resolution.

I would also venture to say - and this will be a leap for some of you - that your greatest struggle holds your greatest potential for joy.

But let’s define what joy actually is. Because this is quite important.

Perhaps we should start with what joy is NOT.

It is not getting what you want when you want it.

It is not a life lived without struggle.

It is not ease.

Joy is the end result of making meaning out of our struggle.

Our struggles are precisely what set us up for joy.

Think about something that you’ve overcome in your life. Think about something that you worked your ass off for days, months or maybe even years to accomplish.

It is the very struggle that, ironically, holds our potential.

I would be a radically different person if I had not - and still, to some extent - struggled with chronic illness my whole life. It has literally shaped my entire inner and outer landscape.

It has made me question the way we live, eat, relate, rest.

It has made me wise.

It has made my life intrinsically meaningful.

And I’m grateful as hell for it.

Now, if I were to only seek out and accept the healed version of myself (and trust me, I've lived in that paradigm more than I haven’t) I would be a fairly miserable person.

Meaning, if my life revolved around GETTING RID of this struggle…making it go away…denying its existence…feeling bitter that it showed up in the first place…blaming it on someone else…it would be near impossible to make meaning of and become richer for this struggle.

Friend, your struggle is the blessed tension of your life.

It is the north star to which your life calls you forth day after day after day.

It is the highest calling of your adventure.

Stop running away from it.

Honestly, you couldn’t even if you tried.

So…you get up in the morning, you say “Hello” to your struggle, and you ask…how can I serve you today?

What is mine to do today?

JUST TODAY.

Because to try to race ahead to some ‘yet to be accomplished’ space is to miss the gifts waiting for you NOW.

This is why you’ve come here.

This is your personal cross to bear.

To show up as the Warrior for your life.

Of course, you are not doing this alone. And if you tried, you would be endlessly frustrated.

Like stumbling into a funhouse of mirrors, you would be tricked by your own illusions again and again.

So you turn to God.

We may as well go straight to the top, right?

Let’s not mess around.

You PRAY.

You ASK.

You plant your cross in the ground and you get on with it as God would have you walk.

And you find out that the struggle was the doorway through which you walked back to the place your Soul never left.

You were built for this struggle.

Let go and walk into the fire.