The Christian life asks for mind’s attention and heart’s affection. – Justin Cofield, The Austin Stone
My first “big” purchase was a boombox. I saved and saved and saved all my wages from various babysitting gigs. I calculated the amount I had saved in an envelope and weighed it against the price of the boombox in the store. I worked some more, calculated some more, and worked some more. I had a purpose. Nothing could cause me to swerve from it. I wanted that boombox, and I was going to get it even if it meant not spending money on earrings or whatever else might have captured my attention as a fourteen-year-old. I saved and saved and saved some more. It took me several months, but I finally was able to buy that boombox. My reward? Being able to play the one CD I owned. On repeat.
Purpose ekes into other activities. When I draw, I become single-minded. I sit and sit and sit and sit some more until I’ve finished the initial drawing. I might step away for a few minutes, but I gravitate back toward the seat. I settle into it. I draw. I wait for the moment when the drawing begins to take shape and to become something more than even I had anticipated.
The same hold trues with writing; at least, it does when the writing comes swift. I sit for a few hours, and the words pour forth. In those times, I become tuned to a greater purpose, that of being a ready writer. I address my verses, such as they are, to the King. The pinch in between my shoulder blades doesn’t capture my thoughts. The rolling of shoulders and neck stops. I am working with purpose. Everything else falls away.
Minor examples, but they point to a larger truth: people need purpose. They crave it. Without it, they flop on the beach, gasping for air. They can’t find their way, can’t find the oxygen necessary to their lungs and longevity. They’re caught in a trap of purposelessness. In it, they misappropriate their time, talent, and glory. They take things that were meant for a particular purpose and use them for a different one.
They feel the lack, but they feel helpless; such often is the case when purpose has been exchanged for personal and temporary adulation and awards. The only way out from that is to recall their calling. They have to reorient themselves and focus their mind’s attention and heart’s affection. They have to become singular in aim not only so that they regain a sense of purpose but also so that they honor the One to whom all glory, time, and talents are due. They stop stealing and begin to work with purpose. When that happens, the oxygen again expands their lungs, fills them with hope, and pushes them onward, toward the upward call to which they’ve been called.
What’s an Emergency Hope Kit? Find out at my Kickstarter.
[…] meet clients’ needs and expectations. The main motivation, though, is found in my belief that the work I do is never just for me or another human being. Each piece of writing I do serves the One who created and loves me and […]