Just so you know...I don't have it all figured out.

"So you're a Life Coach?" She says with a question behind her blue green eyes and then politely waits to hear my response. I nod my head and with a smile say, "Why yes, I am a Life Coach." Her eyes blink as she digests my reply...you can almost see the wheels turning in her head as she carefully tries to find the right thing to say next. I wait expectantly wondering what she will say next, and then sure enough out it comes. "Well, does that mean you've got life all figured out?"

Woop, there it is...the quintessential question of the hour. "Does that mean I've got life all figured out?" I've heard that a few times since I finished my Life Coach training and it makes me smile every single time. First of all let me be the first to tell you that, No, of course I don't have life all figured out. And second of all, let me just say that I would never pretend even for one second that I did. It just isn't possible, doesn't work that way and besides, how much fun would that be.
No, Life Coaching isn't about having it all figured out, or having all the answers or telling people what to do. And it's definitely not about condescending to people as you try and put yourself in their shoes. There is no way to do that, no way to even begin to understand the paths that other people have walked and to pretend or attempt to do that would really be presumptuous and egotistical. Let me assure you that my closest friends would tell you that I'm my own piece of work, all crafted and twisted and convoluted...and I'm just waiting to figure out what God intends to do with my puzzle as each piece gets pulled out by the daily grind.

My job as a life coach is to be a support, an encourager and to help people shift their focus onto what they can do about their situation or their predicament. My greatest joy is to work with someone who has been knocking their head against the wall about some big issue and when they finally have a break through you can just hear the heavens open up and the angels all applaud. It's awesome! That's what coaching is about for me. It's about helping people find their purpose, and about believing they have what it takes all along to figure it out for themselves.

And sometimes in those break through moments I am reminded that good things do happen, that sometimes we do get the answer we are seeking and when all the pieces in the puzzle fit together...well, that's just about the best way to celebrate and give glory to God. It's an honor to be a part of something like that. That's why I love being a coach, even if I don't have it all figured out...God does.