Mission: Mindset Week Four - Now

As we continue to develop attitudes around making our mission count, the ‘N’ in M.I.N.D.S.E.T. stands for Now...

Now.

To say I love Lin Manuel Miranda’s Broadway musical, Hamilton, is an understatement.

The songs, the ideas, the acting -- seriously, can it get any better?! I’m happy to admit, I’ve had the privilege to go see it not once, not twice, but 3x!

For those of you who are unfamiliar with Alexander Hamilton, he was a complete baller! He’s one of America’s founding fathers, helped write our Constitution, was the first secretary of the United States Treasury, helped establish the Coast Guard, was the mastermind behind building our national bank, and was a war hero during the American Revolution. And he did all this before his death at age 47! Like a said...complete baller.

But what I like most about Alexander Hamilton is how he lived his life with a sense of urgency. He didn’t wait around to make things happen. He acted in the moment. He did things ‘now!’ That’s how I want to live my life. That’s part of being mission-minded. Why wait when you can act now.

The ‘N’ in Mission M.I.N.D.S.E.T. stands for Now.

Act 1 of Hamilton closes with a song called “Non-stop.” This song perfectly describes Hamilton’s persistence and tenacity. Here’s the lyrics (speaking of Alexander):

“How do you write like you're running out of time?
Write day and night like you're running out of time?
Everyday you fight like you're running out of time
Like you're running out of time.”

Do you live like you’re running out of time? Because the truth is, you don’t know how long you have on this earth. James 4:14 tells us, “you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. For you are just a vapor that appears for a little while, and then vanishes away.”

It’s so true. We are not promised tomorrow. In a sense, Hamilton understood this. When the Revolutionary War was over, he partnered up with John Jay and James Madison to write what came to be called the Federalist Papers. A total of 85 essays were published anonymously and the workload was supposed to be distributed evenly between the three men. However, history tells us John Jay wrote 5, James Madison wrote 29, and Alexander Hamilton wrote 51!

Centuries from now, are people going to be talking about your life, your choices, and your work with the same kind of passion and urgency as Hamilton’s? Do you fight for people like you’re running out of time? Do you care for those around you like you’re running out of time? Do you love Jesus like you’re running out of time?

Time passes, and it never needs our permission. Stop putting off tomorrow what can be done today. Complacency is the enemy of urgency and is one of the biggest opponents of a Mission Mindset.

Don’t wait until you have no choice but to take action. If there is something aligned with your mission that demands your attention, do it now.

Go create a life that counts,
Timmy

Sneak peak @ next week: D - Be Different