Even More ALL IN Ponderings

It has been so amazing where all I have been that has impacted my ALL IN considerations

Yesterday it was Rennie's message from Psalm 1 at Crossroads.

Stand- Walk- Sit with the Righteous

Decisions set directions that lead to destinations

Where do I want to go?

Where are my decisions leading me?

(ouch- didn't like that picture in some things.)

What/ Who are influencing those decisions?

(ooo- now that's not fair.  He knows I had a hard weekend- I did some right things, but some of my choices were not so right- and some of the 'influences' not so healthy)

I told Ren I was only going to listen to his sermon once- it was making my toes bleed from getting stepped on so much. But I heard most of it 3 times.

Today it was in my reading - "The Call" by Oz Guinness

I have been impacted by this book tremendously in the past, but I picked it up again this weekend. 

I know what I am reading in not just for what God wants to teach me

But for what He wants me to share with others as well.

I wish I could share it all with you here- but I guess you can buy the book yourselves.

But here are some things that struck me in my journey…

'finding and fulfilling the purpose of our lives comes up in a myriad of ways

 and in all seasons of our lives…

 in all the varying transitions of life…

Negotiating the changes feels longer and worse than the changes themselves because transition challenges our sense of personal meaning.

Well, if ever Ren & I have been in a season of transition it is now- as both daughter's get married and our lives feel as if they are at a place of beginning again.  We do want to know that we won't waste what is left.  We want to know that our lives- no matter what we are doing- is making a difference for the kingdom.  We long to leave a legacy- not just to our daughters, and now their young men or future grandchildren.  We want to know that we are fulfilling the purpose for which we are here on earth.

At one point, we thought we knew what that was- but the past 7-8 years, it has been very clear that God is/has reshaped that vision.  And now we are IN TRANSITION again- even as we are being challenged to be ALL IN.

Kierkegaard wrote in his JOURNAL: "The thing is to understand myself, to see what God really wants ME to do; the thing is to find the truth which is true for me, to find the idea for which I can live and die."

Guinness points out that

• The SEARCH for purpose of life is one of the deepest issues of our experiences as human beings
• The EXPECTATION that we can all live purposeful lives has been given a gigantic boost by modern society's offer of the maximum opportunity for choice and change in all we do.
• The FULFILLMENT of the search for purpose is thwarted by a stunning fact: Out of more than a score of great civilizations in human history, modern Western civilization is the very first to have NO agreed on answer to the question of the purpose of life.

Hence ...more of us are seeking what few of us are finding!

Exasperating at best!

Yet he goes on to say...

Answering the CALL of our Creator is "the ultimate why" for living, the highest source of purpose in human existence.

I completely get this.  I say this often.  I KNOW this to be true.

But how do we know what the CALL of God is for us?

How do we know if we have found it, let alone living it out?

And if one person thinks they know it, how does that help me? Usually it only makes me more discontent in my own journey.  'I don't have it.  I can't find it.  Whatever IT is!"

But listen to this, Guinness defines CALLING as

 'the truth that God call us to himself so decisively that

Everything we are,

Everything we do,

Everything we have

Is invested with a special devotion and dynamism lived out as a response to his summons and service.

You know what I call that---- ALL IN!

Whoa!  Popped me in the face this morning!

Everything I am

Everything I do

Everything I have

Lived out AS A RESPONSE to God!

If I am going to RESPOND in an ALL IN fashion- then I have to be listening to what God is saying.

I must give intentionality to space in my life for that purpose.

That takes time- doesn't have to be a lot of time

That takes effort- to say no to something, even one thing,  that might distract me today

That takes willingness to be still- which can be hard. That means I might hear some of the things my head is saying that need to be quieted.  Sometimes that is the hard work.

But today, this day, Lord may

Everything I am

Everything I do

Everything I have

Be lived out in response to what you are CALLIng me to be.

Today, I want to live ALL IN!

How about you?