Finding Daily Purpose - Encouragement Café - March 1, 2017

Finding Daily Purpose
By Beth Mabe Gianopulos
Wednesday, March 1, 2017

“But if from there you seek the Lord your God, you will find him if you seek him with all your heart and with all your soul.”  Deuteronomy 4:29 (NIV)

I’ve had a number of jobs in my life.  Some jobs have been more fulfilling than others.  One of my first jobs after high school was working in a factory preparing a product for a buy one get one free promotion.  One of my coworkers would bring a case of the product to me.

My job was to take two of the items, insert a coupon, and tape them together.  I did this over and over for 8 hours every day.  Not only was the job long and tedious, but it was mind-numbingly boring.   

This job, like many jobs, left me unfulfilled and incomplete.  I have also struggled from time to time with general household chores.  No matter how much I love my family, it is difficult to find self-worth and fulfillment in washing dishes and doing laundry. 

While I knew that these tasks were important, my days often felt tiring and tedious.  Although I knew, as a Christian, that there was a purpose for my life, my soul continued to cry out for a purpose in each individual day.

One of my friends introduced me to The Practice of the Presence of God, which includes the teachings of Brother Lawrence.  Brother Lawrence was a monk, and he sought purpose in the mundane, everyday life.  I read in awe how Brother Lawrence concentrated on finding the presence of God in a task as simple as washing dishes. 

Brother Lawrence recognized that God could be in every task, no matter how small, when he stated, "we ought not to be weary of doing little things for the love of God, who regards not the greatness of the work, but the love with which it is performed."  I began to imagine how my day could be transformed if I did not focus on the large or small work, and began to view each task in my day as a way to do my best to honor God.

Brother Lawrence also realized that we will not achieve perfection, and God does not expect perfection.  Brother Lawrence said, "He does not ask much of us, merely a thought of Him from time to time, a little act of adoration, sometimes to ask for His grace, sometimes to offer Him your sufferings ... He is nearer to us than we think." 

We often convince ourselves that our attempts to know God and to hear God are never enough.  We also tend to overcomplicate things.  I have often spent more time figuring out how I should pray or study the Bible than I have spent in actual prayer or Bible study. 

God does not judge us based on the technique or approach that we use to draw nearer to him, God is concerned with our heart. 

God promises us, “But if from there you seek the Lord your God, you will find him if you seek him with all your heart and with all your soul.”  Deuteronomy 4:29 (NIV)  If we want to be in God’s presence and fellowship with him, all we have to do is seek him with our heart and soul. 

If you are worried that your individual days have no purpose, pause and take time to practice being in God’s presence.  If you can’t hear God, and feel distant from him, stop focusing on the technique or approach to reach God.  Instead, prayerfully seek God, and you will find him. 

Jesus, Thank You for being present in our lives.  Show us our purpose each day, and help us to prayerfully seek You, even in the mundane.  In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

© 2017 by Beth Mabe Gianopulos.  All rights reserved.

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