I love time in the car with my son. It gives us uninterruptable time to be together to sing, to pray or just to talk. Being 5, his mind is curious about everything. Through his seemingly endless questions, often times it causes me to pause and see things a little different or to see things I may have missed. Sometimes, God teaches me through the conversations I have with my son.
A couple of weeks ago, as I was driving my son to school, he became very focused on trees. He asked, “Are there trees that I am taller than?” That was followed by “Are there trees that even babies are taller than?” The conversation then moved to information he had learned from school or from shows he has watched. He talked about how trees give us oxygen, how some animals eat parts of the trees, some trees get cut down and used to build things.
He then went quiet for a while. Finally, he asked, “What if they don’t like it?”
My mind had already moved on during the silence, thinking about what I needed to get done at work for the day. I absentmindedly answered, “What if who doesn’t like what?”
“The trees. What if they don’t like any of that stuff? Giving oxygen, animals eating them, getting chopped down. What if they don’t like it?”
I responded with the first thing that came to my mind. “Son, that’s their purpose. God made them to do those things. He made them to provide oxygen, to provide food for some, to provide shelter, to be able to be cut down to make things from. They live to fulfill their purpose. It’s not really about them liking or not liking it. It’s just what they do. It’s what they are for.”
Immediately after those words left my mouth, I realized that this is exactly how I should be living. I should live to fulfill my purpose. And what is my purpose?
Isaiah 43:7 says, “everyone who is called by My name, whom I have created for My glory, whom I formed and made.”
I was created to praise and bring glory to God, my Creator. That is my purpose. So often, though, I get caught up in me. It becomes all about what I want to do versus what I don’t want to do instead of walking in obedience and living how His word tells me to live. I get caught up in my own comfort, not willing to get uncomfortable for what He asks me to do. I get caught up in what I think is right or what benefits me.
I way too often make it all about me. But my purpose is all about Him.
Scripture tells us we should do EVERYTHING to the glory of God (1 Corinthians 10:31). Everything I do, every minute, every hour of every day, should be done to the glory of God. The words I speak, the thoughts I think, the decisions I make, the way in which I conduct my work, how I raise my son, how I am towards my husband. All of it done to bring God glory regardless of what others do or what is going on around me.
The question I put to myself and want to leave you all with is this: how are you doing with living out the purpose you were created for? Are you closer on the scale to “All about me” or “All about glory for Him”?
Rachel Guest
#LiveYourPurpose #EverythingUnderTheSon
