Greetings friends,
I asked the administrator at a nursing home: “How do you determine whether or not a senior should be put in a nursing home?”
“Well,” he said, “we fill up a bathtub, then we offer a teaspoon, a teacup and a bucket to the person, to empty the bathtub.”
“Oh, I understand,” I said. “A normal person would use the bucket because it is bigger than the spoon or the teacup.”
“No” he said. “A normal person would pull the plug. Do you want a bed near the window?”
A 36-year-old woman wrote to a career guidance councillor for advice. She explained that she was a college dropout who had been working for several years but was wondering whether she should go back to school to become a doctor, which was her original and lifelong dream. She summarized her note: “If I go back to college and get my degree, then go to medical school, do my internship and finally get into a practice – it will take me seven years. But in seven years, I will be 43 years old! What do you think?” She signed the letter “Unfulfilled”.
The counsellor responded by striking at the core of our very human tendency of stalling when circumstances aren’t ideal. ”Dear Unfulfilled: And how old will you be in seven years if you don’t go back to college?”
We’ve all done it, right? Delayed doing something that we really want to do or that we know is the right calling for us, often because something about the decision isn’t perfect yet.
“Quit living as if the purpose of life is to arrive safely at death. Set God-ordained goals. Pursue God-ordained passions. Keep asking questions. Keep making mistakes. Keep seeking Him. Stop pointing out problems. Become part of the solution. Stop repeating the past. Start creating the future. Stop playing it safe. Start taking risks. Accumulate experiences. Don’t let what’s wrong with you keep you from worshipping what’s right with God.” ~ Mark Batterson “In a Pit With A Lion on A Snowy Day”
Samuel Adams, during the American War of Independence, put it rather tersely: “If you love wealth greater than liberty, the tranquility of servitude greater than the animating contest for freedom, go home from us in peace. We seek not your counsel, nor your arms. Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you. May your chains set lightly on you, and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen.”
We need to identify our gifting and our calling so we know how to bless others. ‘Who I am’ is being comfortable with God’s design in me and His calling for me. Don’t back off from His design. Let Him salvage what the enemy is attempting to destroy. Only two things will last for eternity: His Word and People. Come alongside individuals, believe in them and assist them to believe in themselves.
What if Barnabas had defaulted on his mission to Paul? What if he had decided to not take action when he recognized Paul’s potential; to get him involved and to speak up for him among those who doubted his conversion?” Paul would never have written: “Every time you cross my mind, I break out in exclamations of thanks to God. Each exclamation is a trigger to prayer. I find myself praying for you with a glad heart. I am so pleased that you have continued in this with us…” (Philippians 1:3 MSG)
“Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body.
I intend to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, with just enough energy to proclaim:
WOW — What a Ride!!!”
Living on purpose… (Romans 12:1-2)
