The Purpose in a Life

“God smiles when you be you.”

The Purpose-Driven Life author Rick Warren spoke these words in 2006 at a TED conference (TED.com) while leading a discussion on our Life’s Purpose.  Famous for his penetrating one-liners, Warren left us with several zingers that are worthy of your mind’s rumination.  In front of TED’s audience of the world’s influential creative thinkers, Warren boldly declared:

“The purpose of influence is to speak up for those who have no influence.” 

Warren relates this to the Biblical leader Moses when God calls him out as a leader.  One day the Almightly asks Moses, “What is in your hand?” to which Moses replies, “My staff.”   What was the role of Moses’s staff in his life?  This piece of wood used to shepherd sheep – and in his case, to shepherd (lead) God’s people – was a representation of Moses’ IDENTITY, his INCOME, and his INFLUENCE.  God asked Moses to lay his staff down, to symbolically surrender his occupation, his talents and gifts, the resources God had given him, back to his Maker.  And when Mo obeyed, the staff turned into a snake. 

In essence, God told Moses that If you lay your staff down, I’ll make it come alive in ways you never dreamed possible.  Through Moses’ surrender, God changed the course of history for ETERNITY.  His obedience allowed God to transform a simple shepherd’s staff into something new, something extraordinary, something alive!  After recanting this story, Warren posed a question:

What are you gonna do with what you’ve been given? 

You have been wired to do certain things, and if you want to know what you ought to be doing with your life, you need to look at your unique SHAPE:

Spiritual Gifts
Heart
Ability
Personality
Experiences

So explore this for yourself: What will you do with what He’s so lovingly given you?  Your gifts aren’t meant to be self-contained.  They’re your opportunity to help others discover true joy in this life, and in the process, your joy will overflow as you lose sight of yourself in giving to others.

As the words of a famous song says, “Love’s not love unless you give it away…” 

Our Heart’s Desire

Jesus.  What a beautiful word, isn’t it?  A name that can stop traffic, truly.  Whether we are conscious of it or not, all of us are subject to the authority rendered this Man, even to the authority of His name.  Yet do we understand who He really is?  My belief is that we cannot know Him fully, that our joyous discovery of Him will last an eternity – that is how DEEP and VAST the knowledge of Him is!  Let’s begin our journey today. 

My father spoke a great blessing to me last year, one that reverberates in my thinking and causes me to press forward in uncertain times like now.  He spoke over my life truth gleaned from Hebrews 11, that I should expect God’s blessings because I have been diligently seeking Him, in accordance with verse 6:

But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.

A famous psalm says that if we delight ourselves in the Lord, He will give us the desires of our heart.  This week it dawned on me that the desire of our heart is truly to delight in God!  This psalm is redundant: If we delight ourselves in the Lord, He’ll give us our heart’s desire — because delighting in Him is our heart’s desire!  By basking in Him, our hearts will find their contentment. 

For years I have wondered when abundant life would be mine, when overflowing joy would be my daily experience as He promises.  I began to believe that true love had been withheld from me, in the words of musician Dave Barnes: “Love was kept from me like a secret, and I swore that I was through until you, until you…” 

But His love is real.  It is alive, and His heart burns for me to return His affections.   For years His love for me was unrequited as I chased other ‘lovers’ seeking the adoration only He can give.  But as I grow in delighting in Him, I’m beginning to understand and say (as the lovestruck bride shouts in Song of Songs), “I am my beloved’s and my beloved is mine!” 

It’s the Climb…

Miley Cyrus

As we watched American Idol recently, young Miley Cyrus came on. I was excited to hear her perform, finally, due to all the hype.  Such a super cute girl… yet I wasn’t expecting to hear such a mature, beautiful voice come out of her tiny frame!  

As she belted out the song, her words blew my mind.  Such depth!  Here I’d been thinking young Miley hadn’t experienced much of life yet, especially real-life struggles, yet she sang of the same heartache and struggles I’ve been facing. 

To say she described where I’m at in life now is an understatement. My life is in limbo – caught between the death of one dream and the birth of another – yet as time passes, my new dream seems further out of reach.  It’s become a mockery, echoing in my head and vocalized by the people I love most. 

Hearing Miley share similar struggles, I realized we’re all desperately craving something to cling to, something that remains.  We are longing for HOPE, a word that makes my heart leap.  Many scramble to find it, yet our outward focus fails to provide something to rely on.  We’ve become aware that all we’ve worked for our whole lives could crumble overnight with the dollar’s declining value, our stock market’s volatility, or threats of terrorism and nuclear war.   These aren’t small potatoes!  This world gives no assurance that next year will spell peace for our hearts any more than this year has.  So what is the solution?

This young girl’s words pricked my heart.  I hope they bless you and point you to the Hope that doesn’t disappoint!

“THE CLIMB” Miley Cyrus

I can almost see it
That dream I’m dreaming but
There’s a voice inside my head sayin
You’ll never reach it
Every step I’m taking
Every move I make feels
Lost with no direction
My faith is shaking
But I – I got to keep trying
Got to keep my head held high

There’s always going to be another mountain
I’m always going to want to make it move
Always gonna be an uphill battle
Sometimes I’m gonna have to lose
Ain’t about how fast I get there
Ain’t about what’s waiting on the other side
It’s the climb

The struggles I’m facing
The chances I’m taking
Sometimes might knock me down but
No I’m not breaking
I may not know it
But these are the moments that
I’m going to remember most
Just got to keep going
And I – I got to be strong
Just keep pushing on ’cause

There’s always going to be another mountain
I’m always going to want to make it move
Always gonna be an uphill battle
Sometimes I’m gonna have to lose
Ain’t about how fast I get there
Ain’t about what’s waiting on the other side
It’s the climb

There’s always going to be another mountain
I’m always going to want to make it move
Always gonna be an uphill battle
Sometimes I’m gonna have to lose
Ain’t about how fast I get there
Ain’t about what’s waiting on the other side
It’s the climb

Keep on moving
Keep climbing
Keep the faith baby
It’s all about
It’s all about
The climb
Keep the faith
Keep your faith