Fisher of Men
Perhaps it’s a function of getting older, but I’ve been pretty introspective lately. Searching my heart. A lot. At this rate, I’ll be examining the meaning of my spleen by the time I’m 55.
But in the past few months, I have been taking a look at my life and at how I’m focusing my time and talent and treasure and at how I’ve gotten here and where I need to be heading. And each time I look at how the puzzle pieces of my life have fit together, I see the beauty of how a God who is so much greater than me can make good out of all kinds of garbage.
So last week, as I was flipping through the Bible, I stumbled across the passage in Luke 5 where Jesus called Simon to a major career change. I’d seen it a million times before. The thing that really stuck out to me in this moment, though, was not the radical change Jesus was commanding; instead it was the similarity.
Jesus leveraged the things that Simon had done all of his career, and showed Simon that they could be applied to a new, higher calling.
That really spoke to me.
When we talk about chasing dreams, we often assume that we will have to start over. I’m a project manager, but I want to be a writer. I’m an engineer but I want to be a doctor or a chef. We think dreams require radical change. And that scares us.
But what if the trajectory of our lives finds a continuous thread in the skills that we’ve built, the talents we’ve grown all along…our best efforts applied to the mission that Jesus lays out rather than the one handed down from a CEO?
How can you apply the skills you have now to make a difference in the world and in your own life? Leave a comment…
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About Christine
I am a writer, a project manager, and a corporate refugee with a heart for orphans around the world. My two daughters were adopted from Ukraine at ages 12 and 14. I post about writing, chasing dreams, and making a difference in the world, and sometimes I share fun snippets of fiction in-progress.
I’ve always wondered how to incorporate my gifts into my calling. I’m planning on becoming a Marriage & Family Therapist, but I know that I’m also gifted academically and can write well, so I’m trying to figure out how those things play into it all. I’m also pretty good with technology, but I don’t just want to work with computers – I want to work with people.
Not discovery, but recovery. Wow, what an insight, Christine. It’s true isn’t it? If we’re made with talents, inclinations, etc. then clearly those are meant to play a part in however we can best make an impact.