A Life of Purpose

A message I heard at church a few months back has kept coming back to me since having had Lee.  The idea is that God has said that His work and His glory is to bring to pass the immortality of man.  I had never paid much attention to the first part of that statement before.  His work and His glory.  His work and His glory are the same thing.  He glories in His work.  He (of course) has a life of purpose.

I've also been talking to Dan about the idea of struggling to live a good, moral, upstanding life.  That we have heard many times in our church it can be hard to live the gospel of Jesus Christ.  It can be, but I've had a hard time with that idea because I feel that in many ways it is much easier to live that life as well.  Dan said that perhaps one of the hardest things is to simply live a life of purpose, where someone doesn't simply take the path of least resistance.

So what does that mean for me?  What is my purpose and how can I go about working toward it and glorying in it?  I don't know the answer, but here are a few things I've come up with.

First, I want my children to know that I love them not just because I tell them so.  I want them to know because I have spent my time and energy purposely showing that love for them.  To show them my love is different for each child.  Right now knowing how to show my love for Lee is easy.  I need to take care of him.  Taking care of him may not always be easy, but at least I know what to do.  Charlotte seems to be taking the entrance of a new baby the hardest right now.  I think she misses me.  How do I show her that I'm still here, still watching out for her, still wanting to cuddle her?  I want to show her those things.  Greg seems to be entering right into a new phase of life right now.  One of great learning and exploration.  I want to be his teacher and his trail guide.  How do I help him to know he can come to me and we will find out the answers together?

Not only do I want my children to know that I love them, but also my husband.  I'm realizing this is a bit harder now than it previously had been.  Work, and TV, and kids, and pets, and the house seem to get in the way of that.  I'm realizing that if I truly want him to know that I love him I need to work at it, I need to do something to love him because otherwise it will be pushed back.  The love seems to hang around on the edges instead of between us.

I'm also realizing that if I'm honest with myself, I also need to spend time and energy focused on me.  On my body, my mind, my spirit.  I want my children to see my example and learn my values because I live them.  I need to focus on myself a bit in order to do that.  How though, how does one do that?

There seems to be so many things that require my work right now.  Many of those things excite and energize me, but also the sheer volume of the tasks ahead daunt me.  I find that I must ask myself: Where do I begin?