Choices
Last week’s sermon at our church began with a Winston Churchill quote: “We shape our buildings; thereafter they shape us.” It’s a great quote, and I’ve been thinking that this doesn’t just apply to buildings. For instance, we shape (choose) our food; then it shapes us. We shape our days; then they shape us. The long and short of it is, we make our choices, and then they make us.
Our choices not only reflect who we are, they actually impact who we become in the future.
What brought this to mind is the realization that my current work has pushed me toward a prayer life. I’ve always wanted more of a prayer life, and more of a prayerful posture toward life. And suddenly I realize that I pray more than I used to. Not because I consciously made a decision to really develop a prayer life right now, but because the nature of my work drives me to prayer.
I made a vocational choice toward what felt like both a calling and a longing, and that choice has begun to form me in ways I hadn’t expected. I knew I wanted to develop and use some of my best and deepest gifts in a more intentional way. What I did not know was that in doing so, I would be pushed toward fulfilling another longing — a longing for a more prayerful approach to my life. It was a wonderful realization.
What are some of the choices before you right now? How do they reflect who you are? And how might they impact who you become tomorrow?
February 1st, 2010 at 6:27 am
great post. what if following a calling always moved us towards a prayerful life? do you think thats true for people of faith? this might be one way to discern the difference between a life calling and something we just like to do.
February 2nd, 2010 at 3:11 pm
good thoughts. and great question Chris. i think i would agree that it would always draw us to prayer. i think He is always moving me to a place where i recognize my need for Him.
February 2nd, 2010 at 8:44 pm
Agreed… And Ardelle, I can really relate with your statement of, “the realization that my current work has pushed me toward a prayer life.” Because almost every one of the 500 face-to-face counseling hours I logged reminded me that I could NOT do it on my own. It is so easy to become comfortable though… makes me wonder where I can choose to engage in the work God is doing all around us that will sort of draw me back into that “prayerful posture toward life” that you mention…and out of my cozy little “beth-world.”
February 15th, 2010 at 8:48 am
Chris, Nathan, & Beth – You comments led me to mull over what prayer is. And I guess that yes, I do agree that following a calling leads us to a prayerful posture. In my own life I was thinking of a somewhat traditional understanding of prayer – taking a few moments to bow my head and hold up another person before God, also asking for God’s help and presence in my own life and work. But when I think of all the different callings that different people have, I think that prayerful posture can take on all kinds of forms. So while every calling may not push toward a few moments of a bowed-head sort of prayer, it surely would push us, or lead us, to a place of prayer, which is a sort of willingness to meet God in some of our own deepest places. Sometimes meaning a willingness to meet God in the face and life of another person.