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Drum Beats



“Boy, he sure does march to the beat of his own drum!”

You’ve heard this phrase and probably even used it yourself. Sometimes, it is used in derision, sometimes in condescending endearment, and sometimes in bewilderment or confusion as we try to understand actions that seem foreign to us. But rarely do we use that phrase in admiration.

We live in a fishbowl world where people put their lives on display for all to see. “Keeping up with the Joneses” is not a new thing, but it has been intensified in recent years with the booming of the internet and widespread adoption of social media. In a moment, you can peer into someone else’s life – at least the parts they want you to see – and do an instantaneous comparison with your life.

While this is potentially destructive on many levels, I want you to consider the danger it poses to the beat you march to as you travel life’s path. Let’s ignore, for the moment, that following the wide path and listening to a popular drumbeat is probably the road to Average and a shortcut to mediocrity. Just as critical, if not more so, is that marching to someone else’s beat is simply not what you were designed to do. Whether it’s social media, reality tv, books and magazines or simply the family in the pew next to you at church, the process of continual comparison can cause us to dance to someone else’s music.

While it may be fun for a while, those notes you are stepping to might not be written for you. Each one of us has a song God has placed in our hearts and that is the tune we must march to, regardless of the beat the world around us plays. Listen for the music placed inside your own heart and don’t be afraid to march to the beat of your own drum.

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