ON CALLING AND PURPOSE AND MY EX-OBSESSION WITH C.S.I.
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I remember at a young age I wanted to grow up and be a mermaid. Shortly after I realized that dream probably wasn't going to happen, I changed my aspiration to being a lawyer. Yes, when I was seven years old, I dreamed of being a LAWYER. In high school it changed to coroner and then to forensic investigator (I blame my obsession with C.S.I...I was absolutely obsessed with C.S.I. in high school....like OBSESSED. Grissom was the bomb. I never got into C.S.I Miami though. And FYI I haven't seen an episode of C.S.I. since high school...Are they even making it still? Ok...enough with C.S.I.) After high school when I became a Christian, it changed to pastor.
Tonight at my small group, we spent some time talking about calling and purpose. 10 years ago I learned about a concept that really helped shape my view on my "calling". The teacher at the night leadership course I was going to at the time, had us trace a picture of our hand. She then had us start filling in our hand with areas of responsibilities that we had in our life- people we were in relationship with, jobs, family, area of serving at church, etc. I found out that those areas were my current "calling". My mind was blown.
Now don't get me wrong, I believe that all of us have are given purpose and calling. It burns in your heart. It may seem massive, it may seem small, it may seem out of reach, it may seem like what you're doing now is the furthest thing from that. But sometimes we can get so consumed with what's in our heart that we forget what's in our hand.
There's a story in the Bible about a guy named Moses. Some of you know this story well, but some of you may not know about this guy. Basically God called Moses to do something very big. He called Moses to go to the Pharaoh and bring God's enslaved children out of Egypt. It was a very big deal. Moses was obviously freaked and kept questioning God about this calling. And in Exodus 4 God asked Moses, "What is that in your hand?" Moses was holding a staff and God told him to throw it on the ground. The staff miraculously became a serpent. When Moses picked it up it became a staff again. That staff, that was in Moses' hand, became a tool that led Moses to his calling.
You are not in your current arena of life to just chill until your calling magically appears in your lap. You have a purpose. You have a calling. But right now you are called to something, called to someone. You have been given responsibility. It may seem small, it may seem dismal but who knows, perhaps it's going to be a tool that will lead you to your calling? Or who knows, maybe as you're faithful to what is placed in your hand, that calling in your heart may change?
What I do know is that God blesses obedience. He sees your faithfulness and your perseverance. And He also sees and knows your heart better than anyone else.
"If you are faithful in little things, you will be faithful in large ones."
-Luke 16:10
"Do not despise these small beginnings, for the Lord rejoices to see the work begin..." -Zechariah 4:10
I'd love to hear from you! Is there something burning in your heart that you feel is your purpose or calling? What's currently in your hand? Has your calling changed as you've walked through different seasons of life?
s.s.♥︎.
