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Someone somewhere has written this already.

They have had this idea.

They may have even used these words.

So, I won’t write it again.

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Someone somewhere has written these words already.

BUT I’M WRITING IT ANYWAYS.

I want to challenge you with this today:
Don’t stop simply because others have already started.

Recently I have been feeling this heavy writers block – only its not for lack of creativity, its for presence of fear.

I fear that what I am about to write has already been written by someone with a better education and a larger audience.
I fear that the dream I am about to pursue has already been chased by someone who is more passionate and capable of running a flight of stairs without gripping the railing like an 80-year-old granny.

I tell myself, “It’s already been done.” 

But I refuse to let those words settle and take root in me. I am fearfully and wonderfully made. There is more to me than meets the eye. More to you.
Things are never as they seem.

Take identical twins as an example.
For years it was thought that identical twins have identical genes.
Makes sense, right?
But studies have shown that while they pretty much look identical on the outside, they are far from the same on the inside.
Their genes, brain function, and personalities are different from each other.

On the outside what you are chasing or dreaming or becoming may look just like what you see other people doing. We often look at our dreams or calling the same way we look at twins. We see someone with a similar calling, dream, or gift, and we think that by their ability or success we are automatically disqualified to act out our own. The actions of others shove us into fearing that our work is unnecessary and unwanted. How ridiculous is that?

What if Beethoven decided not to compose his Fifth Symphony because Bach had already used the same notes in his own composing?

What if Martin Luther King decided he didn’t need to speak out for the rights of African Americans because activists like Roy Wilkins had gotten to the task first?

What if the Apostle Paul decided he didn’t need to proclaim the Gospel to the Gentiles because John the Baptist had already told people who Jesus was?

What if your mom decided that she didn’t need to follow her dream of having a family because the lady down the street just had her third baby?

What if we refused to cook because Rachel Ray already made a dish with the same ingredients? Or refused to sing because the person next to us also has an alto voice? Or decided not to paint because someone had already painted a picture of a bowl of fruit? It’s ridiculous.

Nowhere else in life do we let the actions of other people cripple us as much as when it comes to our calling, dreams and gifts.

Fear or shame of doing something that someone else has already done (and *gasp* may have done better) has left us to be hoarders of God’s calling, cowering in the corner too afraid to chase our dreams and too frozen to live out our passions.

But what is the point of doing something that someone else has already done?

For identical twins the degree of differences in their genes can vary from a minute detail to an entire strand of DNA. But even the smallest microscopic change can shift their personality and brain function making them a completely different person.

The world is waiting on your change.
You have to do something that it seems someone else has already done because you are going to do it differently.

God has called you to do something and when you look around you may see others doing that very thing. Don’t use that as an excuse to back out.

You have dreams that you want to pursue but you are chickening out because you see others who have chased the same dreams and have done it so much “better” than you. Don’t stop your pursuit.

You have talents and gifts that the world needs. Are there other people who sing, dance, write, or design? Absolutely! Has someone else had a similar idea or passion as yours? Probably! But they aren’t you.
No one is you as good as you are.

Every time I sit down with a pen and a notepad I choose to walk in faith that just like identical twins, the small change that is under the surface of my skin makes all the difference in the world. The small deviation that God has made in me when He formed me is enough to multiply my dream and make it what the world needs. I don’t know what that change is. But God does. And everything He has called me to do or be isn’t for waste.

It may seem that what you want to do, what you are good at, or what you have been called to chase has already met its match. Fear will tell you every song has been written. Every book published. Every hairstyle tried. Every machine built. Every company started. Every cause fought for. Every dream already has a dreamer and you were just…too… slow…

Don’t believe it!
It hasn’t been done yet. Not the way only you can do it.

IT HASN’T BEEN DONE YET. 
And while you’re sitting here wondering if someone else is
living it, chasing it, using it, making it, dreaming it…

the world is waiting for YOU.

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