The Purpose of My Life

I love it when I listen to songs I haven’t heard in a while and really pay attention to the lyrics. I had a line of this song stuck in my head the other night and realized that it fit so perfectly in the context of my life. And I haven’t listened to it in years! But the words are beautiful and ever pertinent today.

 

The song’s called “Purpose of My Life,” written by a very talented Lindsay Morton from Colorado, and it tells the story of a cloud—yes, a cloud. The cloud certainly does not think it is very important, but it knows that it has brought life to so many things on the earth by giving of its precious rain. It can never stay in one place for very long, nor can it linger to watch the growth of the plants it waters, but wherever the wind blows, it follows, and it has faith that the seeds it pours out upon will grow tall and beautiful.

 

How like us as Christians.

 

These are the full lyrics to her short, folksy ballad:

 

Purpose of My Life

 

Drifting above this world

Pouring out my love

Watching things that seem so little

Grow high into my,

Into my sky

But the wind will blow me away again,

And I will have to drift along

After watering the seeds that God planted—

This is the purpose of my life

Nothing special or significant

I go unnoticed most of the time

But all the things are so beautiful

That I’ve helped grow

But the wind will blow me away again

And I will have to drift along

After watering the seeds that God planted

This is the purpose of my life

Though I love the seeds,

I’ll only linger there a while

They are a part of me,

But I must go and bring things,

Bring things life

But the wind will blow me away again

And I will have to drift along

After watering the seeds that God planted

This is the purpose of my life

And as I’m writing this, it appropriately started raining outside. God is so wonderful.

We may not see visible evidence that we are affecting anybody, but we remain the fragrance of Christ. (2 Corinthians 2:14-15)

 

We may not have visibly attractive lives from the world’s point of view, but God has us right where He wants us and has great plans for us. (Jeremiah 29:11)

 

God has us in strategic places around the world so we can make intercession for those people He ordained for us to pray for and talk with. (Acts 1:8)

 

You may think, what’s special about being a student? What’s so special about working at Starbucks for minimum wage? Why have I lived in the same city for twenty-something years? But the truth is, if you weren’t a student in your specific classes, or an employee in your particular workplace, or still living in the specific community or neighborhood you have lived in for a lifetime, who else would reach the people you interact with on a daily basis?

 

Since the beginning of time, God knew the people you were going to come into contact with. He thought to Himself, “Oh, my darling child needs a Savior—I will send *insert your name here* to be a light to them.” And you may only be a part of the seed-watering phase of the operation. Then God may call you out to another place to reach other people. Like a cloud, you can only drift along with the wind of the Spirit.

 

 

You may never see the work God will do in those people in your lifetime. Oh, but when you reach heaven’s shore, and God hits “play” on the film documenting the grand scheme behind your life and those lives whom you have touched, you will stand back utterly amazed, mouth agape, and praise your God forever and ever. That’s what heaven is all about, right? Our God is so awesome and worthy of praise. He’s got crazy, mind-blowing plans for us. How undeserving we are! But how gracious God is toward us!

 

Case in point: trust in Him, you little cloud.

 

You have a great purpose for your life. You may go unnoticed, you may feel like nothing special or significant, but have faith that God is indeed using you to water His seeds. And one day, our faith shall be our eyes.

 

How exciting it is to be a cloud.

 

“Will we allow Him to help Himself to us, or are we more concerned with our own ideas of what we are going to be?”

~ Oswald Chambers

“For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”

~ Ephesians 2:10 NIV

"How refreshing to know You don't need me,

How amazing to find that You want me ..."

~ Casting Crowns

 

 

 

Jesus, My Life-Long Companion

“Listen to Me, O house of Jacob,
And all the remnant of the house of Israel,
Who have been upheld by Me from birth,
Who have been carried from the womb:
Even to your old age, I AM HE,
And even to gray hairs I will carry you!
I have made, and I will bear;
Even I will carry, and will deliver you.”
~ Isaiah 46:3-4

I was driving on the freeway the other day, sick with worry, almost delirious with fear about my future, and ashamed of the way the day had gone. (Do you ever have those days where the flesh just takes over?) There I was, helplessly seated behind the wheel, traffic looming before me and nowhere else to go. I was feeling so lonely and guilty, so trapped in my little car, and in the midst of these emotions, I suddenly realized the cause.

I was running from God.

A great deal of my life has been spent running—from myself. I have always had some excuse to despise myself, to drown in depression, and to think that my life and everything I did in it was one giant mistake. I was stuck in the mentality that I cannot do anything right, and even if I did, or tried, it always turned into something wrong. And suddenly, it hit me that all of these negative emotions could be traced to one thing: my narrative of God.

My "narrative" of God is literally what I think about Him, how I view His nature, and how that will determine His course of action in my life. Sadly, I viewed God as a person who praised me when I did something right and shunned me when I did something wrong until I could get my act together and “serve Him” again. Oh, how wrong this mentality is! How this narrative had driven me to sorrow, to shame, and being fearful of my own shadow! In this narrative, I cannot possibly do anything right. No wonder why I felt so depressed!

Then God reminded me of these truths about Himself. Never have I heard His voice so clearly before. He reminded me that ...
He is full of grace.
He is merciful.
He is my best friend.
He is my Maker.
He is intimate.
He loves me.
He suffered and died for me … while I was still messed up.
And He would do it all over again.

I realized that we have nowhere else to turn in this life than into His arms. Who else can possibly understand us the way He does? Who holds our tears in His hands and listens undividedly to our broken hearts with compassion? I can’t think of anyone else on earth who could hold me in their arms while I cry my guts out and understand my heart.

He understands.
Oh God, He understands!

He knows the depth of our pain. He sympathizes with the things we go through and doesn’t ask questions. He doesn't need our excuses. He doesn't want them. He doesn’t blow us off when we need someone to talk to. He listens. And He does not only listen to our barely-beating, broken hearts. He fixes them.

And I love God’s balance. He doesn’t spank me and tell me to get a grip. Yet He doesn’t allow me to cry my eyes out forever. He hears me, He lets me cry, and then after sitting in His lap with a giant box of tissues and a cup of tea (I cannot wait to taste the tea in heaven!), He wipes my tears and gives me the strength to walk again. He holds my hand. And He carries me.
I just love that image, don’t you?

I don’t have to worry about a thing. He’s got me.
And He’s got you, too. Forever and ever.

Please take advantage of the best friendship of your life. Nothing else can ever compare. Don’t expect it to. And a strong encouragement to my single friends: celibacy is the most beautiful time of your life because you have the opportunity to grab a hold of the best love of your whole life, to seize God Himself with both hands. It is the best time to make God your everything.

Single or not, grab hold of Him today. He is the best friend you will ever have. And you will know Him for the rest of your life.

Satisfaction is waiting.