PREPARE YOURSELF//

"For which of you,

desiring to build a tower,

does not first sit down and count the cost,

whether he has enough to complete it?"

LUKE 14:28

I have this tattoo on my back left shoulder, it says

"launch yourself on every wave"

It was a quote I saw on a bathroom stall in upstate New York in final semester in college. It was written amongst a log of positive "bathroom thoughts" and spoke firmly to the season of "risky transition" I was going through. It's the only tattoo that I actually waited to get (all others were spontaneous) and I got it inked when living in San Diego working for Invisible Children, right after I had taken my first surfing lesson.

What I didn't learn my first surfing lesson, I quickly learned during my second one.

Launching yourself on every wave is exhausting

and does not make you a better surfer.

But alas, I have the tattoo, and I lived my life that way for the earlier part of my twenties. And it worked out for a while and created more adventures than I could have imagined, ones that I am eternally thankful to have, while also...exhausting me, as any one who was a part of that season will attest - being a full time volunteer was the adventure of a life time, but we are still tired.

I will not get the tattoo covered up though, because it's part of my story. And presently a reminder of how I want to grow up, I want to mature, I want to build a better life.

The scripture that I quoted at the start of this post, feels like it is a better way. To count the cost, to not put myself in debt - financially, physically, emotionally, or spiritually. To truly step back and lay out a blue print of who I want to be and what I want my life to look like. And then to build accordingly.

I encourage you, to look at your life, count the costs, what your choices will cost you, cost the ones you love, and check yourself, if you truly have what you need to go through with it. And also, count the rewards, things that cost us now, often have a higher reward in the long run.

&thenhesaid: In every season, I am for you.

ps. the photo is my amazing husband surfing in Nicaragua on our honey moon :)