We just can’t afford to keep you on.
I don’t love you anymore.
It’s cancer.
We’re not prepared for this kind of emergency.
Mom, I’m pregnant.
Some of these words I have heard, some of them I have not. They are scary words, filling one with the wish that they could go back in time and prevent them from happening. But let me share with you what words for me would be the most frightening to hear.
These words came to me a couple weeks before I went to a conference. They were not real, not yet anyway. But they lingered there in the back of my mind. At this conference, I was having dinner with a couple people and someone brought up the question: What is your goal in life? Being creative people with a sense of humor, everyone around the table began to say things like “Become dictator of the world,” and “Go on every roller coaster there is.” I smiled and laughed with the rest until it was my turn. Then I felt God urging me to share those words.
I took a shaky sip from my water, then put down the cup. I looked around the table, took a deep breath and began.
I do not want to get to heaven and have God say, “Morgan, you led a pretty good middle class life. Not many bad things happened to you, you had a nice house, nice car, nice family. But let me show you what your life could have been… if you had let me have my way with it.”
The mood at the table suddenly dropped a couple degrees. People shuffled their silverware around. Someone cleared her throat. I wanted to apologize, but those words were the true goal of my life. I do not want to hear God say those words. Those words would leave me feeling I had done nothing with my life. I lived, I died, and nothing came of it. I want my life to count for more. I want it to mean something.
Now don’t get me wrong. A nice life is not a bad thing. But if in pursuit of that life we miss hearing God’s voice, then we miss out on our lives being something amazing. What good is it to have a nice house, a secure job, a published book if in the end, it was all for me? No, I want my life to count for more. I want it to have maximum impact. And the only way is to hear God’s quiet voice, directing me towards his plans for my life.
And then having the courage to do it.
Morgan L. Busse 
Hello Morgan!
“The mood at the table suddenly dropped a couple degrees.”
I’ll bet it did!
I recently wrote a blog about living to our potential that I called “Weeds”. It had to do with how people don’t understand who they could of been or the great plan God had for them in this life…
Under the category of “words I never want to hear” how about..
“Depart from me you workers of inequity, I never knew you”
WHOA! THAT’S BAD!
I really like your blog!
I don’t know you very well, but I do believe your life has and will have an impact on many that you may never meet. Sometimes I think that I have had a good middle class life and wonder if I’ve made a difference. When I’m intentional in my thinking, I realize that I have made a difference in many people’s lives. The lives that were impacted the most were the ones when I stepped back and let the Lord take over my body and do His thing. I often ask myself, “Why’d I do that?” Then I realize that the Lord was working through me. He has a way of doing that without us even knowing it. Blessings to my sister in Christ.
Beautiful post!
Powerful post.
You’re a good storyteller, too, Morgan. You put me right at that table. I couldn’t help wondering what happened next. 😉
But your point is so incisive, so important. The scary words you shared are like hearing God say, Give me your talent; I have someone else who can make the use of it I desire.
Thanks for this prompt.
Becky
Beautifully said Morgan. As believers in the Lord Jesus our fondest goal is to hear Him say “well done, good and faithful servant” Prayer that you continue to hear His voice in the now. MJ
Hi Alton, nice to meet you 🙂 Thank you for stopping by my site. My hope is to share with people my own relationship with God through my posts.
Barb! Hi 🙂 I think many times we think serving God means going to Africa or working with the homeless (note: both of those are very good things to do). But God has shown me it can also mean serving my children (especially when I don’t want to) or reaching the people the people God has already put around me (neighbors, other moms, people I’ve met online).
Becky 🙂 Here’s the end of the story: Someone said jokingly that their desire to become dictator paled in comparison to what I had just said. I explained how these words had hit me a couple weeks ago and had a profound change in my outlook on life.
Hi MJ: When it comes down to serving God, it first needs to come from the heart. I think we rush into serving God without ever hearing what he really wants from us.