It's About You

I've got some stuff rolling around in my head that I was going to get out by writing instead of shaking my head like a dog with water in its ears. Before I got to it, I checked my email and found Jon Gordon's weekly newsletter. It's always got something good, uplifting, and inspirational in it about living life by using your greatest potential. I share today's message with you because it really spoke to me.


I suppose all of us at one time or another have asked the question, why am I here. For me it's a recurring question and I can only guess the answer. At different times of my life I've had different answers.


I'm writing as I sit next to Dad's bed. He is sleepy this morning and has more pain than normal. I'm in a sleeveless t-shirt sweating. He's covered with a sheet and two blankets and still shivers a bit. His cinnamon toast rests atop the dual purpose bedside commode (toilet/tray) [Is that gross? Is it unsanitary?] looking rejected and unappetizing.


If I were to ask myself today, what is the purpose God created me for, I think I'd have to say, to be right here, at this moment in time. I have no doubts that sitting at the side of the dying is God's work. I am blessed.




IT'S ABOUT YOU

In Rick Warren’s mega best-seller Purpose Driven Life he famously begins the book with “It’s not about you.” While I understand his intention with this statement I think he should have begun with “It’s about you, however, it’s not just about you.”

Because I believe it is about you. If it weren’t about you, you wouldn’t be here.

You are not an accident.

You are here for a reason.

You have a destiny.

You have a purpose.

You have gifts and talents.

You do things that only you can do in the way you do them.

You and only you can leave your mark on the world.

So it is about you!

However, it’s not just about you. Because if it was just about you, you’d be:

Self-serving

Alone

Narcissistic

Empty

Unfulfilled

It’s about more than you. It’s about knowing you were made for relationships:

To love

To mentor

To learn

To serve

To create

To build

To dream

To work together

To change for the better

It’s about living for more than you.

For a bigger purpose.

For a greater cause.

For a deeper meaning.

For those who will become your legacy.

It’s about you knowing you are part of something much bigger than you.

You live in a universe.

Uni-verse means one-song.

Songs don’t happen by accident.

Songs are created by organizing notes into arrangements and patterns.

And so there is a Creator of the one-song.

You are an expression of the Creator.

You are a note in His symphony.

It’s about you!

It’s about you contributing to the one-song

It’s about you playing your part to the best of your ability.

It’s about you lifting others up.

Its about you living the purpose God created you for.

It’s about you, the Creator, and the song becoming one.

It's about you and now what you do is up to you.

www.jongordon.com


What about you? Do you know what God's purpose is for your life? Are you living it?


Wishing for you this day, that you will dance to the music of your own song,

Merry ME

Comments

Constance said…
Dear Merry,
Your loving compassion is an extension of God's work - well done!


God's purpose for my life was to learn how to love myself, and to be as different from the people who adopted me as possible.

To accept God as my partner, rather than yearning for romantic love.

And to be so thankful for the bleesings that I DO have, instead of longing for what I don't have.
July 26, 2010 at 12:39 PM
Pamela Jones said…
Oh, Mary...I know what you mean about the sweat and the blankets. By the time we left for the restaurant when we went to celebrate my parents' anniversary, I felt like I'd just returned from the gym and forgotten to shower! They like their apartment comfortably WARM.

Each new day is an adventure, and my purpose is to live it with my eyes and heart wide open.
July 26, 2010 at 3:41 PM
Molly said…
Oh my. I've thought about your words here all day.

and still have no response other than thanks for sharing.
July 26, 2010 at 10:23 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Every Little Bit Helps

Image
UPDATE:  I'll be picking a winner on Thanksgiving Day. So make a donation and leave your name in the comment section below.  ME UPDATE:  I see a tiny problem but it should be easy to fix. Commenting anonymously doesn't get your name in the drawing. And there's no way to tell Anonymous A from Anonymous B. Are you different or the same? I need to be able to get back in touch with you somehow. We can exchange email addy's later. But please at least leave your name. If you still comment as Anonymous, just say your name in the comment.  You can use first name and last initial. Or last name alone. Or an Alias. Just so I can get your name in the hat. And really, thank you. Thank you again and again. Merry ME _____ I always breathe a sigh of relief when a storm veers away from Jacksonville.  At the same time it's hard not to feel guilty that it went somewhere else.  I was in no way prepared for Hurricane Sandy. Like a lot of others, I felt like the...
Read more

An Easter Miracle

Image
How is it that after someone you love dies, time moves on even when it feel like its standing still? Philosophers, poets and writers have tried to answer that question since time began. I don't have the answer. I just know that, by what I can only imagine is the Grace of God, it does. When you heart is broken into something resembling a 1000 piece jig saw puzzle and there are no directions on how to put it together, somehow it mends. When some else dies and it cracks again, God stitches the old wound and the new wound together into a patchwork of healed scars. Fifteen years ago, when I watched my mother draw a breath then counted the seconds before she took another but none came, I sat by her bed and tried to imagine being a motherless child. Then I did what any kid would do, ran down the long hospital corridor sounding the alarm. "My mother isn't breathing." "My mother isn't breathing."  Want to see doctors, nurses, CNAs, and cleaning ladies tur...
Read more

INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY BLOG PARTY

Image
In honor of women everywhere ... Welcome to the International Women's Day Blog Party (Turn up the sound: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iuB3_HLcFfk ) International Women's Day is a global day celebrating the economic, political and social achievements of women past, present and future. To this end, this party is a way to honor those special ladies who have inspired us and made us better than we ever thought we could be. It is with gratitude and pride I welcome you to my blog. I'm anxious to hear your stories and celebrate your choices. All you have to do is go down to the bottom of this post and click on the comment section. That will take you to another page where you can write your tribute in the space provided. You can use your Google/Blogger user name or remain anonymous. There is nothing to join. If you choose to post anonymously please leave your name in the comment section so we'll all know who you are. When you're through hit publish and voila your lady is o...
Read more