Place In This World

 

Singer and Song Writer extraordinaire Michael W. Smith does it again. As I am about to step out of the season of being a stay at home mom and stepping back into full time mommy and part time employee I am grieving the goodbye of this season of babies but rejoicing in the fact that I am going back to work. However, with this comes the same feelings I experienced in college, “What is my purpose, what am I made to do in this life, who was I created to be?” I have always thought I was destined to do something great but lately I have been humbled and wrestling with the question, “what if my life is destined to do ordinary, every day things? What if I was created to not impact the world but just the community I live in today? Would I be ok with this?” I felt God say to me, “I need you to be ok with this.”

 You see there is beauty to be found and discovered when I realize that living out an ordinary life can be extraordinarily designed and exciting and has the ability to make great impact and leave a lasting legacy that may just not be highlighted for the world to see. As I was doing a very ordinary thing this morning…the dishes, I was listening to a Spotify Michael W. Smith playlist and Place In This World began to play. As I belted out the lyrics, “looking for a reason, roaming through the night to find my place in this world, my place in this world.” I decided to sing that song and make it part of my prayer for the day. “God, please show me my place in this world.” 

I then decided to start reading the summer edition of the Magnolia magazine for the second go round and started with the letter from the editor none other than Joanna Gaines. She dedicates a word for each edition and this summer’s edition has the word COMMITMENT. Joanna and her team usually wrap the articles around the beauty of said word. She said that commitment is an interesting word for summer because people think of commitment as something that holds us back or holds us down, however, if we were to completely unleash all of our commitments we would not find ourselves free but more like free falling. Her last paragraph then spoke to the depths of my soul and I could just feel God tapping on my heart saying PAY ATTENTION to this. 

From Magnolia Summer Edition 2021 “As we step into a season so inherently suited for seeing things in new ways, maybe our commitments can be one of them, so that we can tell how they’ve shaped OUR PLACE IN THIS WORLD, so that we can remember that purpose isn’t found in one sweeping gesture but in the daily forging of a devoted life, so that we can trust that our commitments aren’t what hold us back, but are the very things holding us up.”  (Pg. 10)

My place in this world, my purpose can be found in being devoted to my commitments. My commitments may seem ordinary to me and maybe not life changing to the world; things like my faith in Jesus, my love and devotion for my husband, my daily commitment to love my kids and teach them how to be human beings, the dishes, the routines but all of these daily devotions are forging a life that is charting the way for the next generation. My little’s generation, my kids. They see the way I am living my life and I hope that the road I choose to travel will help them in their journey in life. I hope that my ordinary life is preparing them for the trials and the joys in their own lives and they will pick up the mantel and choose to carry Jesus with them wherever they go and wherever they find themselves. 

When I graduated with a Business Management degree I never thought that degree would help me in managing my own home I thought I would be some higher up manager killing it in the workforce but then God called me to be home with my kids for a season. It has been humbling and I will cherish this time forever more than experience or any paycheck could build my resume. This is the ordinary life I was called to; and more and more every day I am finding that ordinary, that simple, can be extraordinary, it can lead to extravagance and God can use my life and my giftings for his glory. He can choose to be glorified in whatever sphere of influence he desires for me because he is the author of my life. I am so glad I chose to give him the pen of my story. He has written a story I never would have penned for myself and it is lovely.