Sunrise

A few months ago, Jennifer and I spent three incredible weeks in Italy.  It was a dream come true for us, and it lived up to every hope we had going in.  Well, most of them.  Apart from all that we’d experience, it was my intention to find some quiet time away from the busyness of my life – to be still and hopefully receive some clarity and new direction.  But I was in Italy, people!  If there was a moment of stillness, I promptly filled it with a slice of pizza, a bowl of pasta, gelato or a walk to see something I couldn’t see here.  I’m still shedding the seven pounds I brought back as a souvenir, but it was totally worth it.

On the last night of our trip, Jen and I recounted it all.  How had we been so fortunate?  How was this our life?

“Any regrets?”, she asked me.  “Anything we missed that you’ll be sad about?

It didn’t take much thought.  It had been nagging me for days.  I’d squandered my opportunity for stillness, and I was sad to be leaving without a new piece of the puzzle.  As I laid my head on my pillow, I offered up a quick prayer.  I admitted my mistake, and asked that I wouldn’t miss anything meant for me because of my neglect.  But we were leaving the next afternoon, so I had little hope for an epiphany.

There was a cafe across the street, and I awoke to the sounds of cups clanging, bicycle bells ringing and general Italian awesomeness.  It was earlier than I would have chosen to wake up, so I was fighting it.  I was in that ‘in between’ state when you’re not really asleep anymore, but you’re also not fully awake when I heard it.  From somewhere inside me, two little words.

“Be unreasonable”.

It didn’t make sense to me at first.  I pushed the thought out of my mind and tried to get back to sleep.  A few moments later, though, I heard it again.

“Be unreasonable”.

At this point, I knew I wouldn’t be going back to sleep, so I chased the thought.  What does that even mean?  One of my defining traits is that I’m a reasonable person.  I reason my way out of problems.  I reason my way to my goals.  Why would I wanna change that?  It didn’t make sense.  I tried to push it away again, but the conversation had been started.

“Chance, you’re so reasonable, it gets in your way.”  What?  I didn’t agree.  (I know.  I didn’t agree with myself.  It’s a certain kind of crazy.  I’ll admit it.)  But as I got up and began my morning, I chewed on it and by the afternoon, I began to step into the fullness of the words that woke me up.

I’ve spent a lifetime assessing possible outcomes for my actions, and then pursuing the best of what I can predict.  I often push beyond where other people might choose to settle.  I might even push beyond my own comfort zone.  But so often, I’ve stopped short of being outlandish with my hopes or expectations.  I might strive for a giant step forward, but were I to creep over that line – if I began to dream bigger than what seemed logically attainable, I’d snap myself out of it.  That’s too much!  Not for you!  Who do you think you are?

For example, in my field, with my experience, it’s reasonable to think I could earn x amount of money.  As a matter of progress for my family, I might hope to earn 20% more this year than last.  That’s a pretty bold goal.  It would require a bit of luck and a lot of hard work, but it might be doable.  But what if I wanted to make 50% more?  Fifty percent… Now that’s just crazy!  Even if I tried, that couldn’t happen.

Be realistic.  Be practical. Be reasonable, Chance.

So many of us set our sites on the best of what we can easily see ahead of us.  But why are we shooting for what we can make happen?  Shouldn’t we be reaching beyond what’s expected for something extraordinary?

What if you were meant to live an uncommon life?

You were, you know.

What if you truly believed there was greater purpose for you?

What if you expected greater things than you could easily predict?

Let’s be done with being realistic!  We’ve accepted those limits for far too long.  Let’s rattle some cages!  Let’s believe for things that would blow our minds were they to come true.  And let’s do the work that could make it so.  The worst that could happen is that we’d wake up with hope and direction each day, investing our lives for something we’re passionate about – something worthy of our effort.  Even if we came up short, that’d be a pretty great life.

Spend some time with these questions that are rocking my world.

If I reach for what’s reasonable for my life –

Who will I likely become?

What will I do and have?

What could I give?

How could I help?

What’s a reasonable legacy for a person like me?

Now – reach beyond reason.  Consider your heart’s cry and your life’s message.

If you leaned into the best of who you are, making the most of the rest of your days –

Who could you become?

What might you accomplish?

What would you have?

What could you give?

How might you change the world around you and beyond your reach?

What could you leave for generations to come?

You were meant to be unreasonable.

This Post Has 8 Comments

  1. Rory Peebles

    Chance,

    God is speaking to my heart through your words, helping to confirm work I believe He wants me to join Him in doing. Thank you for listening to Him!

  2. Jeanna Vance

    Yes. I really love this. I especially love the fact that a quick prayer at 11th hour resulted in an epiphany that anyone spending 3 weeks of solitude and searching would be happy to get. I’m sure this is a wonderfully deep rabbit hole of possibilities. I’m in. Thanks, Chance.

  3. Jeremiah Diehl

    This really inspired me to start imagining bigger things for my life. I WAS created for more and I want to realize that potential! Thanks Chance!

  4. Anna-Emily

    That’s so true, Chance! The greatest things in my life I accomplished when I chose to be unreasonable. Like when it was reasonable not to take an exam I had little time to get ready for, I eventually decided to go for it and it turned out great. There’re lots of little things like that but there are also big ones that changed my life for the better. Thanks for making me think about that. :)

  5. Topher

    Being unreasonable is a tricky thing… sometimes it feels like a gnawing nuisance on your brain! For me, I often feel I’ve made a career of running headlong into brick wall after brick wall… or coming up just short of spot on… or coming to the end of months of working to get a deal done, only to have to walk away, because once you dig deeper, the deal is not as amazing as it had been presented in the first place (this was just yesterday).

    It’s these times when I think about others who are “normal” in life… who aren’t wired to take as many risks, or are more wired to “participate” in their surroundings than to feel compelled to “create” new surroundings. I think about them, and momentarily long for how much “easier” that life seems to me. (This is not a judgement on normal people, it’s more an indictment on an abnormal me)

    But then, I realize that I’m wired to be unreasonable… I’m miserable when I’m “fitting into” normal life and reasonable expectations. Then I look back at my stunning failures and am very grateful for those lessons that helped me walk away from the deal BEFORE plowing thru and right into another failure… and I think I’m a little closer to what I feel inside I know I can be. I remember that if you look at most every pinnacle of success, you find a history of stunning failures that re-calibrated their thoughts in a way that insured their future success. Even Steve Jobs was fired from Apple!

  6. Jeannie

    Chance, again you have managed to stir up what is sleeping on me. Thank you so much for being true to your heart and blessing the rest of us in the process. I love you, dear friend. May God continue to inspire you and make you a blessing to many. Muah:).

  7. Bea

    Wow…yes, I want to be done with being realistic! Exacty how big is my GOD anyway? I think I may have forgotten. Thanks for the wake up call!

  8. Darci Monet

    This one’s perfectly timed. I have a few things going on in my life right now that I keep trying to be “reasonable” about when really I’m merely holding myself back. Silly.

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