#120: Do the Work - Fixed vs Growth Mindset

In especially the United States, we have the retirement mentality, right? Like, you work hard for so many years and then you rest. And I've been feeling lately like I've been working a lot in our business for many years and sowing a lot of seeds. And I was like, God, can I have some rest? And of course I get rest. I have Sabbath every week. I take vacations and digital detoxes, and I get rest. But I'm like, oh, I just want to kind of have a season of rest. And it's like, he continues to give me new assignments and new things and. But this week he has been saying to me, like, slow down, like, quality over quantity. Like, but keep going, right? Keep showing up, keep going, and it will be worth it. And I think we all can get into that mindset at times of, like, oh, just want to rest. And God was reminding me this week of how David, what happened when he stayed home from the battle, when he decided, I'm just going to stay home and rest, right? And it wasn't directed by God. Sometimes we need a sabbatical, we need time off. And I am all about rest. And. But I think sometimes we choose out of our own flesh. You know, it's my flesh crying out, saying, I just want to relax and have it easy. And yet God is often calling us into something more. And David, when he stayed home from the battle, that's when he saw Bathsheba. That's when that temptation came up. That's when that whole thing happened, you know, and it led to so much. And so, you know, this week I got some pretty bad news, like, for the business, and, oh, I had a. An opportunity to freak out or just to say, okay, God, this may mean a lot more work for me or it may not, but grace over grind. Those of you who know my friend Shay Bines, she wrote a book, Grace Over Grind. And. And I'm going to choose to say, what can I learn from this? What can I do from this? And obviously, God, you knew this was going to happen. You knew, you know, all of this. And it's like every time I get to a point where I think, oh, I'm going to be able to relax a little bit or maybe write my next book or do something else, something happens.

And.

And, yeah, balance is important. But as I shared, I've been reading this book, Mindset by Carol Dweck. I've had it forever, and I've heard the concept of the growth mindset and the fixed mindset, but I think when sometimes we Go through these challenging seasons or we have difficulty and, you know, we're called to endure some pain, whatever it is. Like, it's like that fixed mindset says, I don't think I want to do this. So this week I was like, God, just help me have a growth mindset. How can I grow from this? How can I become better? How can our business be better from this? And already I'm starting to see God providing some things and in a way of how he's going to work it all out. But I think in our writing careers, in our writing journeys, there's always going to be those moments where I think those four things that C.J. shared, you know, keep your head, endure hardship, do the work, fulfill your duties, and that it's a privilege to continue to work with the Lord, partner with him until the day we die. Right. That there really is no such thing as retirement in the Kingdom of God. Like, he wants to continue using you Kingdom writers. He wants to continue to really see what you're gonna do and love that there's. There is that balance. Because God created Sabbath. Like, CJ and I are reading back through the Bible again, and we just read where, like, you know, he instituted the Sabbath for our own good, like, so we could rest and so that we could have that. And he. He has those good gifts for us, and yet he also invites us to work. Even from the very beginning, before sin entered the world, he gave Adam work to do in the garden. He was basically a gardener, right? Adam was. And he gave Adam fulfilling work to do. And he has fulfilling work for you Kingdom writers and for me and for cj. And so the enemy's temptation is just to say rest, you know, like. And rest, you know, but actually it's like. What was it you said, cj, of what the trifle means?

Yeah, that word, trifle. You don't use it as much anymore. I know it. It really means to spend time in useless things and useless. I personally would even think.

So much time that each of us have probably been there at one time or another, where we're just mindlessly scrolling through social media. Yeah. That endless as. As Cal Newport used to say.

Nuggets of nothingness.

Meaningless nuggets of nothingness. Yeah. And that's where God has been refining me over this last year. And he may be refining you, too. What are those things that, you know, it feels like, you know, it seems like it might be rest, but it's really useless. Right. And so just pressing in. And sometimes as your mentors, we push You a little bit, right. Always about partnering with God. It's never about running ahead of him. It's never about working out of your own flesh and your own strength. You have to be filled up with him first. And so C.J. why don't you pray for us?

Father, we just thank you so much for these final words that we read from Paul, just so to the point, so refined.

Almost an urgency. And I just pray, Lord, that.

Each of us would have those words in mind even as Kingdom writers, that we would seek to accomplish all that you want to in and through us, that we wouldn't leave something on the table.

If we're pursuing you with all of our hearts and we're listening to you and we're writing down words that were inspired by, with you, I just believe it's going to work out, it's going to. To happen in such a way that those are the words that, that you're wanting us to share with the world. So I want to pray for each one of these Kingdom writers, Lord. I just pray that they would.

Be empowered by you, your spirit, that they'd be carried along to be able to, to do the work you're calling them to. I pray that you put a shield around them that the enemy can't penetrate, that every plan or assignment of the enemy would be frustrated in Jesus name. And I pray that today and tomorrow would just be a powerful time of.

Making progress, whatever that looks like with each person. It could be organizing, it could be working on a little marketing for books that already finished. It could be working to finish that book that they know they're called, to finish in just one word sentence, chapter at a time. So, Lord, would you have your way in and through these Kingdom writers and again, for as we look back and we see all that's finished, we're going to give you the glory and the honor knowing that you empowered us, you inspired us, you even gave us the desire to want to do this, to be Kingdom writers, to write for your glory. And so thank you, Lord, and we just give you the rest of this time in Jesus name, Amen.

Amen.