Working
With Soul:
Pay attention to your heart’s most
urgent commands.
Life’s must-dos can drag you down,
so try to find things you WANT to do.
Discovering
and expressing our uniqueness is one of life's most challenging
feats. You can be well versed in secular
as well as sacred teachings on the subject, and still
be at a loss. You spend time doing things you
don’t want to do in places you don’t want
to be, for reasons you don’t even know.
Perhaps it’s habit, or fear of the unknown. Perhaps
it’s your need for a paycheck, to please friends
and family or meet society’s expectations of you.
Whatever the reason,
one thing is clear. You
lack purpose and passion. Nothing
seems to ignite a flame in your heart.
 I
recall a time I talked to God a lot about this meaninglessness.
When I say a lot, I mean a lot. Suddenly, one morning
I put my pen and journal down, dropped to my knees in
desperation and said
“God,
You promised! Your Word
tells me we are all created for a purpose—that
You are the giver of talents to everyone—that some
receive ten, some five and some one. If
I’ve unknowingly buried my one for safekeeping rather
than investing it as you require, please,
help me find it and dig it up.”
Utterly worn out
from it all, I knew at
that point if it was to be, it was not up to me. It was
up to God.
 My
initial breakthrough came in the spring of 1990 when,
during a particularly dark season of my life, I
asked God to bring me something positive to think about.
It wasn’t even a prayer. It was a PS onto a prayer.
Shortly, God did (maybe I’ll tell you about it some
time). Within that opportunity
God began to flesh out my unique gifts,
and I felt an excitement for life like I’d never
known before.
World-renowned author
and career planner Richard N. Bolles sifts it down to
this: “Your mission on Earth is:
a.
to exercise that Talent which you particularly came to
Earth to use—your
greatest gift, which you most delight to use;
b. in the place(s) or setting(s) which
God has caused to appeal to you the most;
c. and for those purposes
which God most needs to have done in the world.”
Here’s what
I want you to do. Start paying attention to how
your heart speaks to you on a daily basis. When
you find yourself engaged in an activity that allows your
head to take a break and lose track of time; when
you do it for the thrill and not for the money, for the
personal fulfillment and not the applause:
listen. That’s your
heart, the seat of your soul, speaking.
By listening to
your heart then choosing actions that support what most
delights and appeals to you, you’ll be on
your way to becoming who you were created to be—and
ready to say “Yes!”—when God’s
opportunity calls.
Next time
I’ll offer a discernment exercise to help you facilitate
the process. It may be slow going at first but
keep going. Slow going is better than no going.
|
Ann Starrette