{Introduction - Although you are welcome to use my living in yellow list, please know that I wrote it for me. I share a few truths and thoughts not that I think you need them, but that I need them, and writing about them helps me do just that.}
Rick Warren's Purpose Driven Life has been a point of discussion and disagreement among Christians since its publication nearly a decade ago, and though I don't agree with him on every matter, he begins the first chapter by supporting my number one belief about how I'm to live this mist of a life I've been given.
Rick Warren's Purpose Driven Life has been a point of discussion and disagreement among Christians since its publication nearly a decade ago, and though I don't agree with him on every matter, he begins the first chapter by supporting my number one belief about how I'm to live this mist of a life I've been given.
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 years ago that my life was hidden in Christ and that the purpose of my life was to glorify God and enjoy Him forever, the constant demands of raising and homeschooling children and caring for my bedridden mother in our home made it crystal clear that life was not about me. But I also thought that if I lived long enough, those demands would likely give way to the opportunity to be self-indulgent - free to go and do as I pleased, though I didn't give much thought to where I would go or what I would do.
Now that I'm here - how easy it would be in this season - my children grown with families of their own - for me to cater to selfish me and do just that - but I know better. It's not the purpose for which I was created.
John Piper's Don't Waste Your Life has been a profound influence on shaping my beliefs about how I am to live this life hidden in Christ.
Now that I'm here - how easy it would be in this season - my children grown with families of their own - for me to cater to selfish me and do just that - but I know better. It's not the purpose for which I was created.
John Piper's Don't Waste Your Life has been a profound influence on shaping my beliefs about how I am to live this life hidden in Christ.
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.
It goes back to what I wrote about being an image-bearer - to be who I am where ever God takes me today that I can pray and think and dream and plan and work toward magnifying God - because it's not about me.
Every other living in yellow point must hinge on this one belief....I'll waste my time and my life if I try to make it about me.
This past Sunday, Louis and I, along with the other life group leaders at our church, were asked to be available during both worship services. We attended the first service and then hung out in the coffee shop outside the sanctuary until we were needed during the second service. While we were in the coffee shop, a young man came in after leaving worship with his fussy baby. I considered offering to watch his baby so he could go back into the service, too, but he explained that it was his wife that usually had to leave with the baby and he wanted to do it for her this time. I thought that was a sweet gesture, so I let it go, and told him that I remember those days with babies and how discouraging it was for me to get all dressed up for church only to have to leave with a fussy baby. It's one of the reasons I think churches (thankfully ours is not one of them) that require young mothers to help out in the church nursery have it all wrong - it's an attitude that comes from the older women who think they did their time while they were young mothers and they now deserve to not be bothered. They may as well be saying, it's all about me.
When the baby's fussing turned into inconsolable crying that only a mother could soothe, the young man did let me hold his baby long enough for him to go back into the sanctuary to get his wife, but that was such a little thing. I love babies, but to be honest, I probably wouldn't have enjoyed watching that baby for the entire worship service. He was fussy and heavy and it was hard on me physically to hold and try to comfort him. I was happy to give him to his mother when she came in the coffee shop, but I also knew that I should be willing to watch him longer (anyone can do anything for just an hour, right?) if I'm going to live like it's not about me - because my strength to do anything when I'm weak doesn't point to me but to the Lord who gives me strength.
I'd love to hear your thoughts and hope you will share them here.
Every other living in yellow point must hinge on this one belief....I'll waste my time and my life if I try to make it about me.
This past Sunday, Louis and I, along with the other life group leaders at our church, were asked to be available during both worship services. We attended the first service and then hung out in the coffee shop outside the sanctuary until we were needed during the second service. While we were in the coffee shop, a young man came in after leaving worship with his fussy baby. I considered offering to watch his baby so he could go back into the service, too, but he explained that it was his wife that usually had to leave with the baby and he wanted to do it for her this time. I thought that was a sweet gesture, so I let it go, and told him that I remember those days with babies and how discouraging it was for me to get all dressed up for church only to have to leave with a fussy baby. It's one of the reasons I think churches (thankfully ours is not one of them) that require young mothers to help out in the church nursery have it all wrong - it's an attitude that comes from the older women who think they did their time while they were young mothers and they now deserve to not be bothered. They may as well be saying, it's all about me.
When the baby's fussing turned into inconsolable crying that only a mother could soothe, the young man did let me hold his baby long enough for him to go back into the sanctuary to get his wife, but that was such a little thing. I love babies, but to be honest, I probably wouldn't have enjoyed watching that baby for the entire worship service. He was fussy and heavy and it was hard on me physically to hold and try to comfort him. I was happy to give him to his mother when she came in the coffee shop, but I also knew that I should be willing to watch him longer (anyone can do anything for just an hour, right?) if I'm going to live like it's not about me - because my strength to do anything when I'm weak doesn't point to me but to the Lord who gives me strength.
I'd love to hear your thoughts and hope you will share them here.
