How do you see yourself?
Do you often think or say," Well, I've never done anything special. Probably never will. Makes me wonder sometimes what's the point of going on?"
Just in case nobody's told you this lately, letting that mood hang on is like trying to camp out on quicksand.
Still, dealing with difficult family situations or health problems or simply growing older can feel like too much to bear at times.
Or maybe your daily grind is grinding you down and you can't see a way out.
What's a person to do?
Why not try on a new perspective?
Some years ago Andy Andrews wrote a book, The Noticer, that became meaningful to masses of readers. Here's a brief summary of what the main character, Jones, tells a hopeless individual about the reasons why they are still living:
1. God has a purpose for every single person.
2. You won't die until that purpose is fulfilled.
3. If you are still alive, then you haven't completed what you were put on earth to do.
4. If you haven't completed what you were put on earth to do, then your very purpose hasn't been fulfilled.
5. If your purpose hasn't been fulfilled, then the most important part of your life is still ahead.
6. You have yet to make your most important contribution.
(Chapter 6, pp. 83-85.)
You already meet this author's most important criteria
As long as you and I are still breathing we have not yet fulfilled our purpose, at least, not all of our purpose. This makes every day vitally important, doesn't it?
It doesn't matter if we look back on the past with yearning. It doesn't matter if we feel unsure about today or tomorrow. Our moods do not determine the value of our lives. Our down times do not cancel out the good we have done--and are doing.
Those of us who are Christians see a larger purpose in what we're able to accomplish during our lifetimes, even when we're just being faithful to do what's expected of us and see no fine, lofty and lasting purpose in our days. It puts meaning into our days--and our deeds--when we remember what the Apostle Paul wrote in Ephesians 2:10:
For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
Let's take it a bit further
As Christians we're meant to look at life differently. Take worry, for example:
Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. --Philippians 4:6-7
How do we get through those days (and sometimes weeks, months, even years) when life seems more than we can handle?
Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. --Isaiah 41:10
We believers can safely trust that we will have the strength to meet whatever challenges may come up. God says so, in Deuteronomy 33:25:
"As thy days, so shall thy strength be."
What will tomorrow bring? None of us can say
So if today is "one of those days" and we're at a low point, it's time to look up from the pits and look past our problems.
You are alive and so am I. We cannot know how God already is using us in someone's life. We cannot predict how He will use us tomorrow, but we can trust that He will.
Dear reader, I pray you may know the truth of Romans 15:3:
May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.
Lenore