Lately, I’ve been wrestling with how to align my work and my passions. There’s a ton of advice out there. My secular self-help podcasts say to go all in. My Christian friends say to slow down. I bounce from one end of the spectrum to the other.
One day, it’s all about my dreams, my brand, my ideas. “I can do it!” Then I rave to everyone about my new big, beautiful dream that’s mostly all about me.
A week later, I am overwhelmed by wanting and trying and feeling that I need to do it all. I swing to the other end of the spectrum. All my happiness is in finding balance. Chasing rest, I strip my life of the crazy ideas, hoping I’ll find happiness in the mundane.
Then the big ideas come back, and I’m confused again. Why do I want more when I’ve already been given so much? “I must be really bad at trusting God.”
Or maybe I was thinking about work all wrong.
One theology of work says this: Fulfill your spiritual needs at church; fulfill your physical needs at work. Your career, your city, your individual dreams -- these are not important. You find satisfaction in Christ alone, and guess what, those aren’t really all that essential.
There’s some truth there. Circumstances do not define my joy. I thought I could prove that I was satisfied in him by not changing my circumstances. So I waited. Don’t change anything. Find peace.
Here’s another theology of work: If God is a Creator and we’re made in his image, they we’re also made to create. We’re made to work. By working well with the passions and talents He gave us, we can worship Him.
Over the next few months, I’m on a journey to find how I can best worship the Lord with my work. I believe we can both savor life slowly and run fast ahead. I’ll savor it with time in the Word and long talks with friends, but I’ll also run fast ahead, pursuing the skills and passions He gave me.
Inspired by Psalm 16, I’m living each day for Him.
I have set the Lord always before me;
because he is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken.
With the Lord before me, He is my heart and song. All my work glorifies him. He is my Creator, and in His image, I am a creator. All he asks of me is to follow him, to worship him, to love others. In this peace, I am steady. I am satisfied.
Therefore my heart is glad, and my whole being rejoices;
my flesh also dwells secure.
When my whole being rejoices, I am working -- writing, painting, drawing, planning, cooking, talking, and dreaming. He gave me these skills, and all good things come from Him. For that reason, I want to throw myself into a big dream and knock it out of the park. Not so people think, “she’s living her best life” but because I believe there is hope for a more beautiful, more just world.
1 Corinthians 12:18-20
But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. If all were a single member, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, yet one body.
Many of my friends and family draw close and glorify the Lord in different ways -- creating a home where people see His love, studying long hours to teach the Word, running an ethical business that cares for their employees. These are beautiful pursuits, and I don’t want anyone to read my words and feel like they have to try this too.
It’s not about you and what you’re becoming. It’s about Him and what he has made you to do.