Shoulder Glances
Have you ever heard that where your focus is, your passion, is where your calling lives? There is so much truth in that. But, how do you find your passion, or your giftings? Because really, a lot of us have gone through life trying to be successful, and intentional, and intelligent and we have mistakingly stepped over our passions in an effort to make a life. Oh gosh and gasp.
Survey the past days of your life, or maybe of those who have gone before you that you know really well. Did they live their passions? Can you see any who did? Life is best learned in reversed and lived forward. We can look backwards and see clearly. 20/20 in hindsight is true. But what a gift it is because you don't have to live in regret or begrudge your choices. You can look back even over just the past year and have many ah ha moments. A life lesson learned doesn't equate pain. It equates wisdom. To look back and not make any adjustments to the present is just silly. Or stubborn or prideful.
I know a man who found his passion in gardening, in building and designing things. He was mechanically gifted and incredibly intelligent. But he, like so many of us, took a job that allowed provision for his family but that suffocated his spirit. He never took time to step back and acknowledge that the very things he was passionate about were his true calling. His gifts were the thing that God wanted to use to point to life. Instead he found himself angry and resentful for the job that created provision but that instead robbed his joy. He created a life upside down and paid a hefty painful price. It was a life of regret and self hate. He would heap shifting responsibility onto others for his own pain, but if he'd just slowed to look he would have seen...
That he could grow near about anything from seed and it would produce bounty. He could take old broken parts, pieces and create art and furniture and homes that looked like original masterpieces. He could tame animals, landscape beautifully, name the species of all different types of nature...but he couldn't tell you why he was purposed.
Your passions are referred to as your giftings because they are simply that: a gift.
Along the path of life, you'll tinker and explore and usually land on a thing or two that you simply love. Art, exercise, cooking, encouraging, writing, designing, teaching, ministering, learning... And you'll come alive when you enter into the place that you're gifted in. You'll feel the most "you" when you're operating in your gift. It's this free thing given to you, so that you might live life abundantly, freely, and not stuck in strife and opposition to your very own nature.
Hindsight is beautiful. Take time to look backwards. And if it's painful to look back, just glance in small steps. But do glance often. Allow yourself to heal from mistakes of your past, give yourself the gift of forgiving yourself for stepping over your real calling. And once you have let go of the pain, turn around and just stare at your past. Your past month, or year, or years. And ask yourself: where did I feel most alive?
Likely that is the thing that God created in you, freely, so that you might enjoy life better. So that you would be more willing to share life.
Don't put me at a computer, crunching numbers, and analyzing data. Can I do it? Yes. And I have. But I crumbled often. Stick me in front of a room of people, and ask me to teach them or encourage them or share with them the gospel of peace, and you have found your girl. I come alive when I get to talk with people and love them. God made me like that. That's his gift to me. I haven't always allowed myself to make a living or a life out of that gift, but now that I do, I'm alive.
I'm living free. I'm living with purpose and joy, knowing that I can look back at the mistakes and hiccups and know that every no, every bump along the way, was nudging me closer to living freely.
Be you, boo. You were created with free gifts that only you can share with the world and point back to the Creator. Won't you be so brave as to take a few glances back and find out what you were looking for all along?
Survey the past days of your life, or maybe of those who have gone before you that you know really well. Did they live their passions? Can you see any who did? Life is best learned in reversed and lived forward. We can look backwards and see clearly. 20/20 in hindsight is true. But what a gift it is because you don't have to live in regret or begrudge your choices. You can look back even over just the past year and have many ah ha moments. A life lesson learned doesn't equate pain. It equates wisdom. To look back and not make any adjustments to the present is just silly. Or stubborn or prideful.
I know a man who found his passion in gardening, in building and designing things. He was mechanically gifted and incredibly intelligent. But he, like so many of us, took a job that allowed provision for his family but that suffocated his spirit. He never took time to step back and acknowledge that the very things he was passionate about were his true calling. His gifts were the thing that God wanted to use to point to life. Instead he found himself angry and resentful for the job that created provision but that instead robbed his joy. He created a life upside down and paid a hefty painful price. It was a life of regret and self hate. He would heap shifting responsibility onto others for his own pain, but if he'd just slowed to look he would have seen...
That he could grow near about anything from seed and it would produce bounty. He could take old broken parts, pieces and create art and furniture and homes that looked like original masterpieces. He could tame animals, landscape beautifully, name the species of all different types of nature...but he couldn't tell you why he was purposed.
Your passions are referred to as your giftings because they are simply that: a gift.
Along the path of life, you'll tinker and explore and usually land on a thing or two that you simply love. Art, exercise, cooking, encouraging, writing, designing, teaching, ministering, learning... And you'll come alive when you enter into the place that you're gifted in. You'll feel the most "you" when you're operating in your gift. It's this free thing given to you, so that you might live life abundantly, freely, and not stuck in strife and opposition to your very own nature.
Hindsight is beautiful. Take time to look backwards. And if it's painful to look back, just glance in small steps. But do glance often. Allow yourself to heal from mistakes of your past, give yourself the gift of forgiving yourself for stepping over your real calling. And once you have let go of the pain, turn around and just stare at your past. Your past month, or year, or years. And ask yourself: where did I feel most alive?
Likely that is the thing that God created in you, freely, so that you might enjoy life better. So that you would be more willing to share life.
Don't put me at a computer, crunching numbers, and analyzing data. Can I do it? Yes. And I have. But I crumbled often. Stick me in front of a room of people, and ask me to teach them or encourage them or share with them the gospel of peace, and you have found your girl. I come alive when I get to talk with people and love them. God made me like that. That's his gift to me. I haven't always allowed myself to make a living or a life out of that gift, but now that I do, I'm alive.
I'm living free. I'm living with purpose and joy, knowing that I can look back at the mistakes and hiccups and know that every no, every bump along the way, was nudging me closer to living freely.
Be you, boo. You were created with free gifts that only you can share with the world and point back to the Creator. Won't you be so brave as to take a few glances back and find out what you were looking for all along?
Woo hoo!!!!! Love this and you. You Got This!!!!
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