Living in Yellow::It's not about me...

Rick Warren's Purpose Driven Life has been a point of discussion and disagreement among groups of Christians since its publication nearly a decade ago, and though I might not agree with him on every matter, in the very first paragraph of chapter one, he begins by supporting my number one belief about how I'm to live all of life...

It’s not about you. 

The purpose of your life is far greater than your own personal fulfillment, your peace of mind, or even your happiness. It’s far greater than your family, your career, or even your wildest dreams and ambitions. If you want to know why you were placed on this planet, you must begin with God. You were born by his purpose and for his purpose.

Whether or not I understood - during those years of raising children - that my life was hidden in Christ and was to glorify God and enjoy Him forever, the continuous 24/7 demands on a "stay at home" homeschooling mom daily confirmed the reality that life was not about me. 

How easy it would be in this fall season of "living in yellow" - children grown into fine adults with families of their own - for me to declare, "It's my turn now. I'll do what pleases me. I'll rest on my laurels and read all those books I never had time for. I'll take those trips I've always wanted, get my degree and have lunch every day with friends....."

And so on.

Not that there's anything wrong with taking trips and reading books and getting a degree and lunch with friends. It's simply a matter of the heart and being open to what I believe about God's plans for my life. 

Trips and books and college and lunch may be part of His plan for me, but not because I believe I deserve them - that it's my turn to do what I want and make demands. 

 

Outside of the Bible, John Piper's Don't Waste Your Life has been one of the most influential books that has shaped my beliefs about how I am to live a life hidden in Christ - every day in every season: 

We waste our lives when we do not pray and think and dream and plan and work toward magnifying God in all spheres of life. God created us for this: to live our lives in a way that makes him look more like the greatness and the beauty and the infinite worth that he really is. In the night sky of this world God appears to most people, if at all, like a pinprick of light in a heaven of darkness. But he created us and called us to make him look like what he really is. This is what it means to be created in the image of God. We are meant to image forth in the world what he is really like.

Every other "living in yellow" point must hinge on this one belief....it's not about me...or it will be a waste of my time and life.