I hope and trust this post finds you having a great day, that you have had a wonderful weekend and that you feel rested, ready for a week filled with hope, opportunity and promise. They are all there...if we will only seize them.
This week I want to just pour out my heart to you for a few minutes. To share my beliefs, my thoughts and hopefully in all of this, encourage you to pursue the greatness that I believe lies within you. This - the greatness that lies inside inside each one of us - is something that has been on my heart all week. Here are a few of the quotes I shared on Facebook this week:
"No matter what age you are, or what your circumstances might be, you are special, and you still have something unique to offer. Your life, because of who you are, has meaning."
Barbara de Angelis
"Often people attempt to live their lives backwards: they try to have more things, or more money, in order to do more of what they want, so they will be happier. The way it actually works is the reverse. You must first be who you really are, then do what you need to do, in order to have what you want."
Margaret Young
"The privilege of a lifetime is to become who you truly are."
C.G. Jung
There are two key points that I would like to make with this message.
1. I truly believe with all of my heart that everyone's life has value, meaning & purpose. I also believe that each of us has the ability within us to learn, to grow & to develop to fulfill our purpose. It is in this time, when we are pursuing the purpose for which God has created and equipped us - please don't read over that too quickly; He created and equipped (meaning you lack nothing) you...if only we would walk in that truth! - that we are truly alive.
Please allow me to unpack those two sentences for a moment. Do you know that your life has value, meaning & purpose? Do you believe that your life has value, meaning & purpose? Here is maybe the most important question; are you living as though your life has value, meaning & purpose? I realize and respect that there are people in this world who will disagree with me. While I don't agree with them I respect their right to have their opinion just as I expect that they will respect my right to have mine. That's o.k...we can agree to disagree. What I am really not o.k. with is when one person, or a group of people, wants to determine the value, the meaning or the purpose of another's life. Can we do that? Do we really have the right to do that? What person, or group(s) of people, have the knowledge, the wisdom, the right, perhaps the audacity, to determine the value, the meaning, the purpose of another person's life? It's easy to look out the window and be horrified as Americans at what we see happen in other countries - the way different races, women, children are treated. It isn't so comfortable to change our gaze to the mirror and look at what is happening first in our own homes. Are we treating our husbands, our wives and our children as though their lives have value, meaning & purpose? They do and it has nothing to do with me or you. Are we doing everything in our power to help them discover their value, their meaning & their purpose? Let me take you back a few sentences and ask you a question again; do you have the the knowledge, the wisdom, the right, the audacity, to determine the value, the meaning and/or the purpose of your husband/wife/son/daughters life? I would argue that you do not, nor do I. We have the privilege to help them discover the treasures that are within them and we have the opportunity to love them unconditionally as we walk this cherished journey together. They might not choose the path that we would choose for them but then again, it wasn't our choice to make in the first place.
As a husband and Dad and I am given the honor & privilege of leading my household and I believe the Bible says that someday I will be held accountable to God for the leadership that I provided. From what I understand I am called to love, protect, provide for & instruct my wife and my sons. Nowhere in all of scriptures have I found that I am to determine their value, their meaning or their purpose. From what I understand of the Bible those are God's responsibilities, not mine. I really don't have a desire to try to take over God's responsibilities as I desperately need Him to help me fulfill the calling that He has placed on my life as the head of my household.
You, as a person created by God, have value, meaning & purpose. I pray that today you will understand, and accept, this truth to the depths of your soul. That no matter the journey that you have taken that has brought you to this very moment where you are reading these words that today, perhaps for the first time, you will become truly alive, that you will live out the value, the meaning & the purpose of your life. That you will be set free, in this very moment, from whatever lies, bondage, chains...whatever it might be that has kept you from knowing, hearing, seeing this truth in your life. I am telling you Friends, there is a God who loves, who created you and created a very valuable person whose life has great meaning and a purpose when He created you. If you are struggling to accept this truth, please just pray to Him. There is not a right or wrong way to pray Friend, just talk to Him. He is there, He is always there for you.
I also want to unpack the part about you and I having a purpose and us being equipped. There is something within you that you love, that you love to do, that brings you great joy. How do I know? Because I have yet to meet a single person for whom this is not true. For some it is singing, others dancing. For some it is art and for some it is playing a sport. Whatever this thing is, this thing within you that brings you great joy, please pursue it with everything that is within you. Yes, yes, I know that there are people that have told you it is no use, or your passion is dumb or some other thing that keeps you from pursuing this thing. We all have those people in our lives. They however are not what's most important. You see, if you in fact believe that you were created by God, that you were fearfully & wonderfully made as the Bible says you are, who do you think put this passion, this joy, this purpose in your heart? Yes Friend, this too would be God. And, to tie this all together, if He has given you this purpose don't you think He would also equip you to fulfill the purpose? Pretty easy to understand when you unpack it that way isn't it? No this doesn't mean there will not be struggles, this does not mean that the road will be smooth...it simply means that you choose to believe that you were created by God, that you were created for a purpose, that you are equipped by God to fulfill your purpose and that you are going to walk this out each and every day of your life - the good one's and that bad one's.
2. The other point I want to make sure is clear is that when I talk about our life having value, meaning & purpose; when I talk about us being perfectly equipped to fulfill our purpose; when I talk about loving & accepting our lives; I am not saying that you and I are perfect, that we have nothing to work on, that we can do whatever we want to do. We live in a fallen, broken world and we are fallen, broken people. This does not mean that your life doesn't have value, meaning & purpose or that you are not perfectly equipped to fulfill your purpose. You are and the Bible says these things are true. The Bible also says that you and I are born with a sin nature, that we are selfish by nature and that we want to do things for ourselves. The thing is, we can't save ourselves and we can't find our value, our meaning, our purpose and we won't become fully equipped to fulfill our purpose by ourselves. We must first surrender to God, allow Him to work through the Holy Spirit living within us to help us grow to maturity in Him. This is a daily choice, a daily decision to die to ourselves and live for the Lord. When we do these things we will grow to become all we were created and called to become.
Friends, please don't hesitate to contact me if there is ever anything I can do for you or your family. I will always be willing to help you any way I can.
Have a great day, a wonderful week and please cherish your precious families.
Kev
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