Eat dessert first!

You’ve seen the tee shirts, right?
Life is short.
Eat dessert first. 

I am all about dessert first. If there are no children around to corrupt, it’s always dessert first for me.  I can doggy bag a sandwich or chicken breast, but that dessert will never taste as good coming out of a takeout box as it does on the plate in the restaurant.

The whole idea of dessert first is to go after the good stuff first. If you’re intention is to get it at the end of your meal, eat when it will taste the best.

The same can be said for the things we want in life.
Go after them now. Don’t wait till the end!

My mother-in-law was just days away from retiring. Just days away from the trip of a lifetime to Hawaii with her hubz. Just days away from realizing all the things she’d waited for until the timing was perfect.
When the kids were grown.
When the house was paid for.
When the career was a wrap.

Then, poof, her man died of a heart attack.

And so did the trip of a lifetime to Hawaii.
And the dream of leisurely mornings reading the paper and sipping coffee together.
The dream of traipsing around America in an RV visiting children and grandchildren along the way. All the things she’d delayed experiencing till the timing was perfect were forfeit.

She’d waited and planned for the perfect timing before living her big dream.
And then it was too late.

The day her man died, she told her son,
“Don’t wait! If you are dreaming of doing something, just do it!
Every day is a gift! Open it now and enjoy it!”

Great advice for all of us.
Who knows how many days you have left?

If you’re planning or wishing or dreaming of doing something,
why wait for perfect timing that may never align?

One of my coaching clients, *Ginny is a single mom who grew up as an MK (missionary kid). She has a passion for missions. But right now, there are obstacles.
Childcare for her littles.
Using her limited discretionary income to fund a trip.
Finding someone to cover her shifts at work.
The list goes on.
But she’s a “dessert first” girl because she knows perfect timing is elusive.
She takes a short-term mission trip every other year. 

What is that thing you long to do, or see, or learn?
Who do you want to serve or help or teach?
What keeps you from eating dessert first or taking the trip of a lifetime or pursuing your passion?

Is it the lie that there’s enough time to do everything later?
Or the lie that your desire is less important than everyone else’s?
Or, the big fat lie that it’s too late?
Or the biggest fattest lie that you’re too old or too messy or too undeserving?

Don’t believe it anymore. Choose to “eat dessert first”.
Go after what you’re passionate about now. 

What is it you would love to do, but are putting off?

Learn to paint or knit or dance.
Take the trip to Hawaii or the Holy Land.
Have a baby or write the book or learn to speak French!

Starting today, make every day count.
Live each day intentionally.
Make every day count.
Pursue your passion and live on purpose!

What’s on your to-do list?
What are you doing to make it happen?

Our prayer: Dear Jesus, Help me to make my life count. Show me the way to be intentional and wise and live the life you died to give me. I look to you to show me the way on this journey. Amen.

*not her real name