Working With Soul

Where do we get off track?
Don’t settle for dissatisfaction in your career.
Examine your own life and mission, then look for sources of fulfillment.

Few people are lucky enough to know what they’re good at and want to do with their life. A greater few seem to have different dreams or goals at different times connected by a common thread.

However, according to numerous research surveys, well over 90% of people are doing work they find distasteful and unnatural. I refuse to accept this is what God had in mind. Scripture clearly tells us He knitted us in our mother’s womb, created us in His image and equipped us for good works. Our job is to uncover our gifts, honor and hone them to carry out God’s divine purpose.

Often we go at it as a problem to be solved rather than a learning process to be mastered one step at a time. We want the harvest but not the hardship of plowing, planting, pruning and so on. We want assurance of things unseen but not the work required to get our inner world in order.

A baby begins with milk, then puree foods then more solid foods. The food is essentially the same, just in different forms for different stages. Each stage must be mastered before the next step can be approached. A baby begins to crawl, tries to walk, falls down, gets up, falls down again. Yet, blink your eyes and he’s riding a bike or driving a car. How did this happen? One step at a time.

Again, I ask you, where do we get off track?

In his fabulous little book, How to Find Your Mission in Life, Richard N. Bolles (career counselor and author of What Color is Your Parachute? the most popular career-planning and job-hunting book in the world with over six million copies in print) says we get off track when we fail to:

1. Seek God first. Get to know Him, enjoy Him and see His hand in all His work –– as the equipper, the dream giver, the path director.
2. Make the world a better place - moment by moment - by following the leading and guiding of God’s Spirit within and around. Once you’re serious about deepening your love walk, getting out of debt, growing in humility, patience or self-control –– brace yourself, the practice opportunities will come.

Perhaps He may send a thorn for you to love
or the whole bush to deal with!

God’s test and trials provide fertile training ground for molding and polishing us into shape for his work.
3. Become more rooted and grounded in God’s ways - when we are more rooted and grounded, we are on track to love God completely, ourselves correctly and others compassionately. We’re more capable to weather the storms of a purpose driven life –– more determined to continue taking one step at a time, even when we don’t yet see where it is all leading.

Next month we’ll delve further into step three but for now,

what specific steps can you take to deepen your roots
and make your present day world a better place?

Do it and do it and keep on doing it. Your root system determines your growth.

Private victory precedes public vision.