It’s time to leave your comfort zone behind and learn to fly to where this new season is beckoning you.

For several days as I was out running, I noticed the curbs and sidewalks in my neighborhood being overrun with cut down tree limbs as everyone prepared for fall brush pick up.

The pick up date was always a two week window that no one wanted to miss. This was obvious by the dying barricades which created an interesting obstacle course for my usual running path.

As I rounded the corner at a quicker pace than usual, I was startled by a flock of birds that I spooked out of the dead brush pile. The sudden flight wasn’t the only thing that took me by surprise. It was the paradox of the birds’ obvious choice.

I recently wrote about the beauty of my neighborhood and how it took me by surprise when I moved my cardio routine from the nearby park into my own literal backyard. (Read about it here) The houses in this part of my neighborhood were beautifully landscaped and lush. Huge shade-giving trees surrounded me as far as the eye could see.

I couldn’t help but wonder what these birds were thinking? Or even worse, were they thinking at all?

Then the obvious truth dawned on me – what if these dry and brittle branches had once been the home of this flock of birds? Were they like so many of us stuck in the place we know so well regardless of how detrimental and dangerous that situation is?

I stopped in my tracks, gazing into the nearest yard at the huge tree with leaves slightly rustling in the breeze. My heart hurt for the birds that had just flown by.

But I hurt even more for all of the people that sit day after day, month after month, year after year in a painful situation simply because it is all they’ve ever known.

I believe the biggest part of fulfilling your purpose is learning how to dream.

Sometimes this means listening to those around you beckoning as they ask you the hard questions.

It does not mean that we are exempt from difficult seasons.

It does not mean that there won’t be times when life is hard and hurtful.

It does mean that if there is a more fruitful life just beyond your reach you have an obligation to examine what stands between you and that life.

Unfortunately, no one told those birds that in just a few days those discarded branches would be hauled away to a trash pit; a destination with no hope in sight.

My prayer for you right now is that you take a good look at your surroundings and ask yourself if you are living in the midst of a broken life because it is all you know ~ or if you have spread your wings to fly into one of the many beautiful opportunities that surround you?

If you need help asking or answering questions like this please reach out to me ~ I would love to help you become who you were created to be.