Do justice. Love Kindness. Walk humbly with your God."What is God waking you up from?" Our pastor has been asking this question for several weeks now, and it was brought up again in our weekly family group. The replies from our group members ran the gamut from light-hearted to gut-wrenching, but one reply in particular stood out to me. It was simple. It was honest. "I don't really know," she began, "but I do know that I've been struggling with discovering my sense of purpose - a direction for my life." I think when we look down into the core of who we are, all of us have wrestled at some point or other with the question of our purpose. Truth be told, as life ebbs and flows around us, we will most likely return to it in the crux of situations, as we seek out those much-needed answers. In our search for answers, we're often told things like, "Don't worry, you're still young," or "you'll figure it out eventually." True, true, but what do we do in the meantime! After all, it's this sense of purpose that motivates us and drives us toward a satisfying future. It brings meaning in the present moment to our accomplishments and achievements, both large and small, and helps us prioritize our lives. It's no wonder that without this sense of direction we feel like we're captaining a ship without a rudder through stormy seas! Well, firstly, I think there is much comfort to be found in the fact that we are most definitely NOT alone in having felt this way. That feeling of being lost at sea can spring up suddenly during an unexpected life change or creep up slowly as the doldrum of monotony sets in. Secondly, the very fact that we find ourselves asking these questions over and over proves that we have not given up, and trust me, the answers are at hand. They just usually don't show up in the ways we expect. If there's one thing I've learned it's that human tendency is to want a game plan, a life formula that we can see in front of us, make logical sense of in our heads, and proceed methodically. However, the great beauty of life is that God has purposefully designed it to be a fluid thing, ever-changing and largely unpredictable. This makes the act of living something that must be approached not only with the head, but also with the heart. Finding God’s purpose for our lives boils down to something quite simple - the whole thing starts, and ends, with our hearts. Looking through the lens of the paradigm described in Micah 6:8, brings so much clarity. God's answer to the age-old question of purpose, reveals to our hearts the simple truths that allow us to focus on what's truly important. "He has told you, O man, what is good; |
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, for he has anointed me to bring Good News to the poor. Archives
March 2021
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