Award-winning voice-over artist.
Successful family and marriage therapist.
Famous stage actress.
Stay at home mom.
Missionary in Sudan.
"Have you thought about what you're going to do after high school?"
Why, not at all.
As I'm writing this, my younger sister is deeply in thought, sitting amongst piles of clothes meticulously spread about the room. Next week she starts High School; the perfect First Day Outfit must be identified. But the outfit is only the beginning of the identification process. The really hard stuff will come later.
What am I good at?
What can I do?
Why am I here?
Who am I?
Welcome to 14.
And in two years, she'll be sitting on the same floor, with the same clothes. By this point she'll be expected to have the self discovery process thoroughly figured out. This time different questions are being asked. This time it counts. The world demands answers.
"Where are you going to college?"
"Are you prepared to sacrifice your dreams to pursue a high income career?"
"How do you expect to make a living doing that?"
As I'm writing this, my younger sister is deeply in thought, sitting amongst piles of clothes meticulously spread about the room. Next week she starts High School; the perfect First Day Outfit must be identified. But the outfit is only the beginning of the identification process. The really hard stuff will come later.
What am I good at?
What can I do?
Why am I here?
Who am I?
Welcome to 14.
And in two years, she'll be sitting on the same floor, with the same clothes. By this point she'll be expected to have the self discovery process thoroughly figured out. This time different questions are being asked. This time it counts. The world demands answers.
"Where are you going to college?"
"Are you prepared to sacrifice your dreams to pursue a high income career?"
"How do you expect to make a living doing that?"
Heaven forbid she hasn't made up her mind yet. Lord help her should she decided to pursue her passions rather than paper. Society has made it clear: there is no room for desire in this world. We are to do whatever it takes to make it in this day and age. Forget what you are passionate about, what makes the most money? Wealth is synonymous with fulfillment.
And here is the danger: In our struggle to produce an answer to the world's tough questions, we have lost ourselves. We have killed desire and passion. We make our plans and design our futures without really knowing who we are. And worst of all, without being known by anyone else.
Does anyone know me?
Ah. Isn't this the question every human heart longs to have answered?
O Lord, you have searched me and you know me. {Psalm 139:1}
Lord, you know me. Not just what I look like; you know my thoughts, feelings, and desires. For you created my inmost being. You give an answer to my desperate questions:
I have gifted you with skills unique to you.
You can do all things, when done in My strength.
You are here for My glory; I have prepared in advance good works for you to do.
You are Mine.
When I begin to believe this, it changes everything. I no longer have to scramble to make a future for myself. I have the freedom to pursue what I am passionate about. Because I serve a God who created me for a unique purpose, and who holds my future in His mighty hand. He knows me. Intimately. Deeply. He has promised that He will not let me fall. And this is not just for me. It's for everyone. The things that you excel at? The things that make you come alive? Do not ignore that. You were created for a unique purpose. And you are offered the freedom to pursue that. Will you accept?
"Do you you know what you're going to do after college?"
Why, not at all. But because the God of the universe created me and knows me, I know what I am gifted in. I know what I am passionate about. And I trust that He has a purpose for me here. So for now, I wait.
And in my waiting, do you know what God told me to do?
Write.
