Maybe it’s just because I’m a black-and-white, all-or-nothing kind of person, but I don’t like stepping-stone situations. I don’t like finishing one season of life and feeling like I’m standing in the hallway waiting for God to open a door to the next.
I want to be a full-time college student, or a single passionate about community involvement, or a stay-at-home mom. None of this “working one day at a time” to see if raising a family is within God’s will for me. I want to be settling into the rest of my life, not en route.
But just because my current day-to-day is not how I would like to live the rest of my life does not mean I don’t have a life to live. My core purpose and reason for existence is still alive and active, even if I am not fulfilling it the way I envision in the long run.
If you feel stuck, if you are missing a key piece to get you to the next thing, I’m with you. We’re ready to go, but we have to wait on enough savings for a downpayment, God to bring along a spouse, or healing from past hurt. Whatever it might be, we’re finding the future just out of reach and ourselves a captive of the present.
We must learn to live in the here and now by identifying our purpose and running after it passionately.
Only a fool is fixated on finding satisfaction. Being satisfaction-centered means you’re not a soldier at all. We mustn’t seek satisfaction but find fulfillment and purpose. We mustn’t focus on how our circumstances can satisfy ourselves but on how we can be a blessing to others.
It’s others over self, people over projects. As C.S. Lewis once said, “God did not add another day to your life because you needed it, He added it because someone needs you.” God has you where you are right now because He can do something through you, in this place, that no one else can do.
Who is it that God has placed in your life today? Even if they are not the ones you want to forever be doing life with, name them. Who are you coming across in your day-to-day life? These are the people God is calling you to pour into, to love how He has loved you.
How this ultimate purpose ripples out into our individual lives varies in myriads of ways, but if we can connect the two, we have everything we need to thrive right where He has us today— the place where we often feel stuck.
Maybe we don’t need to get out but learn how to glorify God from within. Maybe we need to listen for what He is trying to teach us, take more notes, and share our learnings with others. We are called to love others by proclaiming His excellencies (1 Peter 2:9). It is going forward into this mission that has a side effect of happiness and satisfaction.
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