Purpose

Right now, I honestly don’t know what to say. I’m grappling with all sorts of thoughts and realizations– good things, I think, but ideas that are going to require me to examine and question some of my assumptions and priorities.

Four people from scripture keep coming to my mind as I think through all these things.

David, who was anointed king and then remained “just” a shepherd for some time afterward.
Jonah, who so deeply did not want to do what God called him to do that he literally ran in the opposite direction.

Peter, who was told by Jesus what his path would look like, and all he could say was, “But what about John? What is he supposed to do?”

Paul, who found his sense of joy, identity, and purpose not in his day-to-day life or even his calling, but in God alone.

I’m full of thoughts about what I think God may be calling me to do right now. Like David, what I am called to do in the future may not be the thing I am meant to chase after now. Like Jonah, I am so often tempted to run in the other direction. Like Peter, rather than staying focused on my own path, I am all too likely to look at and wonder about other people’s paths. And unlike Paul, too often I look for joy, identity, and satisfaction everywhere but God.

That is all I have for now. There is more– so much more– beneath the surface, but I simply cannot get to it all in one day.