“Pretend that you are going to die at the end of your two years of teaching,” my friend said to me.

I was pacing around my room and freezing cold. I had just admitted to him that I’ve yet to totally invest myself into my community.

I have continued to volunteer for responsibilities at my Alma Mater, I’m spending a lot of time keeping up with old relationships and I’ve traveled out of town quite a bit since I’ve been here.

“Let’s imagine that you are writing your story, would you want to write about someone who is waiting for the next step?” He then asked, “Or would you rather write about the person who had a year and three quarters to make an impact on a community and he devoted himself tirelessly to doing so?”

I’m thankful for a friend who would hold me accountable like that, I’m thankful to be challenged in that way. I remember how uncomfortable I felt in my job last year and how badly I wanted to join Teach For America. So, now that I’m here, how can I be thinking about the next step?

If there is any legacy that I will leave, it must begin now, in the present.

The only Good we can do is in the present.

The only story we have is the one that his happening right now – how will we write it?

For more on the idea of story and how it relates to intentional living, I highly recommend Donald Miller’s new book, A Million Miles in A Thousand Years.