Yessss! I absolutely love this quote... it is definitely my favorite quote from this movie! This quote was one of those quotes that came at just the right time.

THERE IS NEVER A PERFECT TIME, JUST DO IT

I had been wanting to start a blog for a long time, but I kept coming up with excuses on why I could not do it. When I first came up with the idea, I was really busy.

I had basketball every day and I did not really have the time to sit down and blog. Very quickly I realized that I was not ever going to become less busy, so I prayed that God would provide me with time. I prayed for strength and I eventually decided that I needed to ask my parents their opinion on the matter.

Fast forward a few weeks, I went to watched Toy Story 4 and of course there was this quote. After watching the movie, I went home and wrote out a rough draft of the whole Toy Story 4 devotion. Even though I had not quite gotten permission to make the blog, I just had to write out my feelings. I decided that I needed to stop sitting on a shelf and just do it! I stopped watching the world go by and decided to start my blog!

BE DOERS OF THE WORD

Have you ever done something like that? Have you ever talked about doing something over and over, but never doing it? You have a great idea, you want to make it happen, but you get busy, life goes on, and you just don’t end up doing it? Maybe you feel that God is calling you to do something, but you keep coming up with excuses on why you can’t do it. I am guilty as charged on this one!

We, as people, tend to talk about doing things all the time, but we don’t typically take action. We tell ourselves, “Not yet, the circumstances are not right.” We just sit on the shelf and wait for the “perfect” moment to do what we are called to do. Yet, God would not call you to do something that you are incapable of doing.

WHAT WOULD YOU DO IF YOU KNEW YOU WOULD NOT FAIL?

There is a devotion that I read on YouVersion called “Chasing Failure.” (If you have not read it, I definitely encourage you to, because it’s a good one!) In the devotion, the author, Ryan Leak, asks one big question throughout the entire devotion, “What would you do if you knew you would not fail?” If you knew that everything would work out in the end, what would you do? Most of us have something that we want to do in our lives, but we are afraid that we will fail. We are afraid that it may not work out the way we wanted it to. Have you ever felt like that? I know that I feel that way a lot!

I encourage you to not be afraid to fail because what if you don’t? What if everything does work out? Sometimes we just have to dive into the deep end and trust that God knows what He is doing. He does have a plan and everything will work out better in the end. It may be like Ryan where he failed, but he learned a lesson. According to Romans 8:28, everything will work out for good if it’s God’s will.

GET UP AND JUST DO IT!

In Toy Story, Bo Peep is a “lost toy.” After leaving her child, Bo Peep was sent to an antique store. Every day she would sit on her lamp and wait for some amazing child to pick her up and take her home. Bo Peep sat there for a few years and realized that she needed to stop wasting her life and do something about it. So, Bo Peep got off her shelf and went to find her a child. She decided that “If you sit on the shelf your whole life, you’ll never find out.” If she sat on the shelf her whole life, she may have never found someone to play with her. Bo Peep did not know if someone was going to come and get her, so she made the first move.

I guess what I am trying to say is that sometimes, we find something wrong with the world and think that someone needs to fix it. We watch the news, see how dark this world has become, and we think, “Someone needs to show those people the light of Jesus.” Maybe we see all the hunger in the world and we think, “Someone needs to do something about that.”

FUFILL YOUR CALLING

Notice how in each of my sentences I used the word, someone. People, in general, tend to think that other people need to change the world. We sometimes forget that we are just as capable as the other people to change the world! Yet, we often make excuses and say that we can’t do it. We can’t change the world.

Maybe you can’t do it alone, but guess what, God can do it. Philippians 4:13 tells us that with Christ anything is possible. You may think that you are too young to change the world, but just like David in the story of David and Goliath, you can change the world. There is not a certain age that you have to be to make a difference. Maybe you say that you don’t have the strength to change the world. God will provide you with strength and all you have to do is pray. He may provide you with the strength, or provide you with a person who has the strength to change the world.

When I say change the world, it does not have to be something huge. It could be huge or it could be as simple as sitting with that person who is alone at lunch. No matter how big or small, you can change the world in some way or another!

DON'T WAIT, GET OFF THE SHELF

I encourage you this week to stop waiting. Stop sitting on the shelf and waiting for life to happen. What is God calling you to do today? Take a moment and think about what’s keeping you from fulfilling your calling. Don’t worry about failing, because I can guarantee that something good will come out of it no matter what the end turns out like. Remember that God has a plan and He will fulfill it, just trust Him. Get off the shelf and just do it!

This was a bit of a long one today, but I pray that God will speak to you through this quote as much as He did to me! Have a great weekend!

See ya next time beautiful people,

Madi