Game Day

These last 2 weeks of training in Indianapolis at the National FFA Center has been exciting/challenging/full of new information/exhilarating as we think of the organization we get to serve!

Each day we’ve gotten to walk into a room that bursts at the seams with potential to learn. There are walls covered with flipcharts, color splashed everywhere, a table brimming with supplies, and faces of people that I care deeply about. This one poster in particular has really captured my attention.

This perspective is not just applicable to a classroom or to a sports arena, but as a person seeking a greater purpose in life.

Thinking back to high school, on Thursday morning everything changed because it was ‘Game Day’ for our cross country team. I ate differently, dressed differently, spent my time differently over lunch, parked in a different lot, and packed a different bag for the meet. All of these changes led to me acting differently on those days.

If I’m willing to change habits in order to prepare for a running meet, why wouldn’t we change to live a life serving the God of the Universe. Surely, we can see the greater value that we can find in a life lived for Christ versus how I changed basically every single habit of my time for a cross country meet.

Every single day is ‘game day’ in the sense that once we are saved God has a great commission for the work of our lives. When we wake up there is a greater calling on our life than the selfish pursuits that we may desire. No longer do we have to try to seek or even earn our own happiness or contentment. It’s not up to us to secure safety in the next lifetime. He has already done this.

Currently, I’m reading “Don’t Waste Your Life” by John Piper (rave review!!!). Piper helps to clarify over and over that there is nothing greater than committing our lives to seeking a relationship with Christ.

“What is the one passion of your life that makes everything else look like rubbish in comparison? Oh, that God would help me waken in you a single passion for a single great reality that would unleash you, and set you free from small dreams, and send you, for the glory of Christ into all the spheres of life and to all the peoples of the earth.”

Game day in this sense is the fervent chase that we have after  the cross. When we call on Jesus as the man who died for our sins and saves us from our own judgment, we have a purpose that calls us to have a passion for serving Him that supersedes  anything else that we could imagine investing our lives in.

A verse that really helps remind me that everyday is game day is:

“Lord remind me how brief my time on earth will be. Remind me that my days are numbered and that my life is fleeting away.”

                                                         ~Psalm 39:4

We should be intentional in every conversation, every interaction with people, and every investment of our time. Life is brief. It’s short. Why would we waste it?

Everyday there is work to be done. Everyday there is a noble mission to be fulfilled.

Are you living as if today is game day?

 

Uniquely You

Recently, retaking the Strengths Finder assessment, I was reminded of how much I LOVE learning about people’s differences. I am so intrigued by what makes people tick and  how their unique qualities are expressed in their life!

(My Top 5 Strengths: Input, Connectedness, Includer, Developer, and Belief)

Isn’t it incredible to think that with over 6 billion people in this world, there is no one else alive that has the same talents and abilities that you offer?  

You have a responsibility to be Uniquely You!

This is one of the most important truths that we must remember.  We were uniquely fashioned by our Creator.

As we were perfectly created, we also are each granted a specific purpose to fulfill with our God-granted gifts. Paul teaches of some of these gifts in Romans 12 and Ephesians 4.

Over the last week I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about how important it is that we are able to identify what these gifts are. In the book “Worn-Out Woman” it spends page upon page providing ideas and insight on how to ‘win’ your life back. This book intrigued me because my heart ache for people who find themselves in this situation-not enjoying life and questioning their purpose and gifts.  I don’t want to discount some of the advice and encouragement that this book offers to people, but it really has made me question how NOT to end up in that category.

• How can one live a life that completely misses the beauty we’re surrounded by?
• How can the challenges of life become so consuming that there really is no room for light among the darkness?
• How does one wake up one day and realize they wrongly invested their entire life?

The solution to each of these problems: asldkjfa;lsdkfjTake on God’s Perspective.

Look at nature through His eyes. View challenges from God’s seat. Invest your life in way based on His truth and His commission.

Most importantly, see yourself as God’s unique child.

Take time to notice the differences between you and your friends. Be observant of your unique laugh. Notice what makes you insanely happy. What is it that makes you motivated to change the world each day?

Strengths vary; some have a sense of humor, others are extremely focused and disciplined. Natural leaders, problems solvers, athletic, musically gifted, inclusive of all people; whatever it may be know that it’s uniquely you.

You’re not meant to be the same as your sibling or best friend, nor are you to be a copy of your co-workers or classmates.

It would be discounting to God if we didn’t live our lives in a way that fully utilized our gifts He’s given us. He desires you to be uniquely you!

May your life be as full and unique as what God had in mind when he fashioned (insert your name here)!