Living with Luther: Ambition

Nearly every week, I get the privilege to meet downtown Fort Worth for lunch and discussion with a variety of women. By variety, I mean all ages, races, and professions. Common Ground is the name of our lunch club, and it is a non-profit organization committed to providing personal, professional, and spiritual resources for working women.

It's a very stimulation group of lawyers, engineers, moms, service and sales reps, geologists, and administration types. we talk about everything from job satisfaction, sharing Jesus at work, balancing family and work, and as of late, AMBITION.

Ambition is an interesting topic. I have been thinking about it a lot lately, and mostly I have come up with the thought (or feeling?) that I'm not really that ambitious. I certainly feel motivated about several issues: Jesus, family, food, discipleship, recycling, girl-time, and, um what people think of me. (I mean, it's hard to lie on my own blog?) I may feel motivated, but it seems to fall short of my personal definition of ambition.

I see ambition as seriously determined and committed. My friend Jennifer is ambitious to win the price check game by grocery shopping at Wal-mart. My friend Beth has ambition to be a famous blogger. My husband is highly ambitious about his grass and obedient dogs. Even my new co-worker Lorri is crazy ambitious and started her own women owned paper company so she can sell the REALLY BIG accounts (the ones I drive by without batting an eye mind you).

All of that to say, what is a less than ambitious girl to do with all of this...competition?? According to Wikipedia, competition "arises whenever two or more parties strive for a goal which cannot be shared...and...Competition occurs naturally between living organisms which co-exist in the same environment." I definitely think this ambition can be shared unlike actual competition, and I believe good competition can very well spur on productivity, which is one of my main goal

Is this post spiritual or worldly? I think I originally labelled it housekeeping, because I really believe digging through the idea of ambition can be internally spiritual and externally like housekeeping. The bible says in Luke 1:37 "for nothing is impossible with God," and James 4:6 says, "But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” Lastly, 1 Cor 10:31 says "So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God."
It seems the answer to the above question of "what's a girl to do," is pray. Live by God's grace, and whatever we do make sure it's to God's glory and not our own. I guess I can be ambitious after all-

Now that I've reassured myself that I can do all things through Christ, I feel like a list would be helpful to determine what I wish I were ambitious about...
(warning: this is a mixed bag)

* Jesus
* sewing
* blogging
* couponing
* gardening (although i did officially plant my first vegetable and herb garden...results tbd)
* loving the lost
* keeping up with girlfriends
* work at Campbell Paper or quitting bc somewhere in the middle is really not cool
* composting
* home decorating
*starting my own business (have I mentioned i'm signed up to get my YOGAfit certification? i guess this is a start)
* KEEPING A BUDGET

What are you ambitious about, or what do you wish/hope/pray to be ambitious about?

while you ponder, here are a few beginning victory garden shots...