When people tell you who you’re not, you strive to stand in who you are. You stand against the naysayers and haters determined not to let them bring you down. You refuse to give up when doors are slammed in your face. You plow your way through when the winds are adverse and the waves tumultuous.
When the world resists you, you stand.
But what happens when the winds are calm and the sea sleeps, and when the doors are opened to you?
You withstood the storm. Your world is at peace. A new day has dawned and the sun is shining again. You are beautiful and desired. For the first time you are embraced and accepted. You feel loved. People are glad to see you and they welcome you into their lives and inner circles. You receive invites to places you were deemed unworthy to attend. People want to be seen with you and affiliated with your world.
There is no crime in basking in the sun and enjoying this new season you’re in. After all, you endured the changes of fall and the barrenness of winter. Why not enjoy new beginnings and a fruitful harvest?
But be mindful. Peacetime can be more destructive to you than the season of war. Now you no longer feel threatened, the tendency is to stand at ease. Tense muscles relax and you sheathe your weapons. When the winds were adverse, you braced yourself lest you were blown away, but what keeps you when they are not?
You must learn to stand when times are good, like you did when they were bad.
Be established like the tree which is not moved with changing seasons. It is not seduced by whispering winds, nor does it bow to its threatening howls. The tree stands all the time and so must you.
In your season of prosperity, you can gain the whole world, but lose your soul. The war is no longer you against the world, but you against yourself–and an enemy you cannot see. You’ve tasted fame, acceptance, and favor and it’s intoxicating. Your head swoons with the newness of it all and it awakens in you desires you didn’t realize you had. Because the conditions are favorable, you spoon-feed those desires hoping to satiate them, but if you are not mindful, you can find yourself swept up in a growing whirlpool of passions that can sweep you down roads you never intended to traverse.
You start to forget who you are and who you love. You no longer remember where you came from. Lines separating right from wrong blur. In the end, you may wind up losing more than you gained.
Remember: It can take a lifetime to build a dream, but only a moment to tear it down.
If you wish to prosper without regrets:
- Be as diligent in peacetime as you were in adversity.
- Remain watchful and prayerful.
- Remember who you are and Whose you are.
- Though gates are opened to you, strive to keep yours guarded.
And enjoy your season!
-D.L. Lunsford
D.L. Lunsford's Flight of the Butterfly 