My wife Krista and I talk a lot about what the seasons of our life together look like. We’re 22 years into marriage, and we talk a lot about what our 20s and 30s looked like and how our 40s are going. We even have a snapshot, in faith, of how our 50s, 60s, and 70s will look—Asian people age well, so I believe we’re going to make it to our 80s because I’m bringing Krista with me!
We truly believe that in the book of our lives, each new season is a new chapter God is writing. In this season of life, we are so excited about being planted where we are, but we also have so much hope and some really cool dreams for the future—clear God-pictures of how our decades are going to play out.
Many young couples we mentor ask how we’ve prepared for different seasons and set ourselves up for the future of our dreams. We’ve lived our entire marriage by one mentality that’s given us the flexibility to live wildly and be ready when God says it’s time to move: We live unencumbered by debt and fear.
Live Simply
To live with freedom and flexibility, you can’t encumber yourself financially. Not just in the young years of your marriage but even into the winter of your lives.
Some couples have this desire for a particular financial setup, but none of that will get you very far unless you figure out how to live simply—unencumbered by debt and unnecessary responsibilities. One simple mental shift can change everything.
It doesn’t matter if you don’t make a billion dollars, own acres of land, or have four cars. If you can decide you’re blessed right now, it becomes so much easier to live simply and give yourself flexibility down the road.
We started our marriage with a milk crate as a coffee table because once we established Jesus died for us and saved our lives, we set our goal post there and decided we were already blessed in whose and where we were. Everything after that was a bonus.
Dream Wildly
America has spun a lie that you need this much in your bank and that car in your garage, and that failure of this “dream” is fatal and final.
Many people are so afraid of that failure they stop dreaming or don’t move forward in their dreams, terrified of a garage-full of things no one will want to buy, watch, or read.
But like we already said, the American “dream” isn’t necessary. And failure isn’t fatal. If you dare to dream and succeed, great! But if you fail, it’s still good! You’ll die happy, as one of the wild ones who saw a God-vision of their future and moved. You’ll see Him face-to-face and be able to say, “I gave it my best try.” He’ll say, “Yeah, that’s all I wanted you to do.”
What would suck is to go into the winter of your life with an empty garage that only shows you didn’t even try for anything. That’s when people beg for just a little more time, a few more years. Dream wildly. Make the most of your time on earth, reach for those God-visions of your future, and try for something in your life. We are given too few breaths on this earth not to live a life where we don’t take advantage of it.