Friday, March 30, 2012

Intentional purposefulness


Is it a sin to not be purposeful? I feel bad saying that, because we live in culture where we are told and even forced at times to be as productive as possible. I struggle with that in many ways, but this is a topic for another day. The question is, does God expect us to be productive?
One of the greatest blessing I have had, has been to look at my life and seen where God has tooled me with abilities. To see that I am capable at something and to see that I have purpose in those things is an incredible feeling. But is not using them a sin?
I am currently at 'home' (I donno what home is supposed to be anymore, but I am staying with my parents and I guess that's as close as it gonna get at this point). To be honest, its hard. They are both out at work all day, the people I want to hang out with (aka friends) live over an hour away, if not more, and my car is a lawn ornament on the farm currently. The extrovert in me is crying out for human interaction, so I turn to facebook. At the end of the day, I feel like mush. No motivation, sunken in worries about all kinds of things, and in general feeling fairly down.
Tonight, I was doing a great job with this. I had an alright day, but didn't do a whole lot. Went to the coffee shop in town, downloaded 8 programs for my new computer, facebooked, then came home to have dinner with mom and watch a movie (Speed. great movie. too many people die though). 9pm rolls around, and its sleep time (break is a beautiful thing). I retire to my room, and kind of sulk for a bit. I look at another day gone by where I set out to do several things, only to have accomplished facebook and a smoothie. Could have worked on my car, read a book, even worked on some video/graphic production stuff. But like I said, facebook.
At this point I was also struggling with worries. This, that, money, friends, deadlines, car, money, blah, blah, faith, money, exercise, my colon, etc. The thing is though, these worries are all entirely blown out of proportion. They are all fine in actuality, within the realm of accomplishment and problem solving. But for some reason, their weight at this moment is overwhelming, and disheartening. I prayed for a bit, but it was about a lively as a funeral. I looked over and saw a book I had started reading a while ago. I picked it up, and read 50 pages. It wasn't hard, Donald Miller writes like I think, and reading his books is like having a conversation with someone who 'gets you'. At the end of it all, I felt 3000% better. Worries had retreated to reasonable concerns that were easy to address, motivation was doing well, and talking to God had purpose instead of 'habit'.
Did I read something inspiring? Not really, it was a good read, but nothing mind blowing. Do I like to read? Rarely, though books on Christian living are really starting to become a staple in my life. Was reading Donald Miller the extrovert conversation I needed? I hope not, I don't think book reading replaces human interactions.
What I think happened here was that I did something purposeful. As I said, reading is not something I do for entertainment or to relax, but this book does drop insights into my life from time to time. I think God is trying to show me that I live to be productive. To accomplish, succeed, create, move. Sitting around on facebook all day, ignoring what needs to be done is not what God has in mind for me, or anyone for that matter. There are things that need to be done, not for the sake of being done, but to accomplish a purpose. I am meant to have purpose, I was created to do so. That doesn't mean I wake up every morning and get right on the list of things to do until sun down, but it means that devote a healthy portion of my day to doing what God was gifted me to do. Maybe that's fixing my car, or running a sound board, or calling car insurance companies to get quotes. Some fun, some really not.
Maybe that's what I'm missing in my day, some intentional accomplishments. Maybe these fears, worries, and lack of motivation are God's way of showing me that I am not on track at the moment. That when I seek His purpose in my day, I am better able to see His provision for what's ahead.
I kinna feel like a kid getting candy as a positive re-enforcer. Then again, maybe God is just trying to get my attention. Or maybe me choosing to be lazy is me choosing to try and fill the blessing box in my life that God is meant to fill.

1 comment:

  1. There is both good and bad inactivity. The good is when we accomplish nothing but get recharged, the bad is when we accomplish nothing and get drained. You have to know yourself to know what activities are going to be what. Facebooking, reading comics, and similar activities can fill a day, but will leave me feeling empty. On the other hand, if I spend a day reading a good book, listening to new music, and walking aimlessly around I tend to feel good about that day. Neither set would bring me any closer to my goals, but I am more able to see the worth in the latter set, and in that small attitude difference, I am able to get much more out of those non-productive activities.

    I think you're spot on with your idea that we are created to do things of substance, and I do think some people miss out on this. But I think it is also important not to discount the psychological need for downtime. God calls this sabbath and needing it and taking it is an important part of being holistically healthy.

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