Our purpose: His purpose
whew! It’s been a crazy week. I haven’t been able to write since Sunday! Monday was difficult.. and yesterday Chris was off so I wanted to have a family day. Last night we all ate supper outside..it was SOOO beautiful. The kids just played after dinner in the backyard..running around and laughing… Chris and I were literally belly laughing at some of the things they were doing. Josh is Chris IN EVERY WAY…and he’s hilarious! So anyway…here I am this morning. I only have a few minutes…then again do I ever have more than a few minutes (I need to stop saying that)….but the Lord has been teaching me a lot in these past few days and one particular scripture has been in the forefront of my mind….
So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. The man who plants and the man who waters have one purpose, and each will be rewarded according to his own labor. For we are God’s fellow workers, you are God’s field, God’s building. (1 Corinthians 3:7-9)
If I’m going to be honest, I’d have to say this has truly been one of the most difficult years for me. I am thankful for all that the Lord has given me here in Birmingham, but it’s still not home….it’s still hard being away from family… it’s still lonely at times. I was reading one morning and came across this passage… and I can’t get the visual image of us as “God’s field” out of my mind…..and I can’t help but focus on the meaning of purpose. Afterall… isn’t that what we want? Don’t things seem more bearable if there is a greater purpose involved? I mean…when I’m disciplining my children ALL DAY LONG….when we don’t really do anything but build blocks or ride big wheels…when we just watch movies… I want purpose in those things… things that are taking all of my time.. yet seem to bare no immediate fruit. Wouldn’t it be nice if we sort of “clocked in” each morning and someone came to our house and said..”hey… good mommy… you are so wise the way you explained that… or WOW! you are so creative… how did you come up with that? … you know… ever thought about that? Wouldn’t that bring some purpose? Wouldn’t that lighten the load? A “Patted Back” for me ALWAYS lightens my load. :)
And there is the issue of the hard times….couldn’t we endure to storm knowing the purpose in it and the reason behind such trials? Isn’t that part of the struggle…God where have I gone wrong? Where have I missed your guidance? So I’m dwelling on purpose today… and what I’m realizing is that our purpose is His purpose. We are His field as Paul writes in Corinthians.
My grandfather was a farmer. We LOVED to go and spend a weekend out on the farm. There were SO MANY fields… some plowed in little rows… some bursting forth with grain… and as always the field beside my grandparents house was their vegetable garden full of a bounty of delicious..”good for you” food. But neither field was offered a choice in what they would be used for. Neither field was given the option in which season they would labor. Neither field had any say in the way their rows were plowed… or the type of fertilizer used… or how they would be watered. Nor would any field be able to hold on to their hard earned fruit….for at any moment, the farmer could come and harvest. They had one simple role–to learn to grow with what they were watered and fed. And the farmer had one simple role… to water and feed what needed to be grown in every necessary way to yield THE BEST crop. The field that sits dormant for an entire year may not find a purpose in that…but the farmer knows that sometimes fields need a break from planting… to rebuild the soil. The field glorifying in its ‘amber waves of grain’ must soon be shred to be of use for others.
So today I’m finding my answers to all of my “why” questions. And those answers rest in the fact that I’m a dirty field for my Lord–to be tilled, plowed, watered, planted, and harvested… in any and every season. My purpose is His purpose…and in that ….I see the greater purpose in all I do—one season at a time. ( that’s all this little field can handle!)
Be encouraged my sweet friends! This is encouraging to me. The seasons come and go…they are ever-changing… Christ is ever building in us and making us more like himself…..Rest in this today. And be who He needs you to be in THIS season—-be a mom, be a wife, or a mentor, or a friend, or a teacher, or a care-giver, or a comforter, or a listener, or a prayer warrior….or just a trusting servant of the King—THERE IS PURPOSE!
With this in mind, I pray “that our God may count you worthy of his calling, and that by his power he may fulfill every good purpose of yours and every act prompted by your faith…….so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.” (2Thessalonians 1:11-12)
Bless you all!
