Fiercehearted, Live Fully, Love BravelySample

Three: Courageously Missing Out

I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.

(John 10:10)

I recently had a conversation with someone about the current “fomo” trend in our culture. On the off chance you’re a bit slang illiterate (like me), fomo stands for “fear of missing out.” I’ve heard it from stay-at-home mamas, corporate climbers, pink-mohawked hipsters, and silver-haired retirees. It is a fear we all have in common. 

In that conversation about the infamous and universal fomo, I said, “I have worried about what I might miss out on if I don’t hold on to everything. But I have never thought about the other risk—the one that’s actually much more likely to happen—and that’s if I live that way, I will certainly miss out on at least some of what’s right in front of me.” 

Believing we can have it all, all the time is a myth and a lie and a joy stealer. What I do believe is that we can have God’s best for us. A full life and life to the full are two very different things. One is about grasping, the other is about receiving. One is about cramming in, the other is about room to breathe. One is about striving, the other is about trust. One is about control, the other is about letting go—sometimes for a moment and sometimes for always. 

I am slowly learning to be a woman who has the courage to set things down so she may move forward, so she may be present. This, I am surprised to find, is much scarier than trying to balance it all. I feel safer with my hands latched on to as much as they can possibly hold. But when I live that way there is not much space left for the hand of God in mine. 

On my bravest and truest days, this is my tiny manifesto for the begging calendar and needy to-do list and noisy-noisy internet: I do not want to come to the end of life and say, “I didn’t miss out on anything.” What I’m aiming to say is, “I missed out on exactly the right things.”