Great Expectations... The Conclusion

For one, I have to consider that My Heavenly Father made me to be... me. As Paul would write, he makes different vessels for different purposes. He crafts each person with their own blend of gifts and shortcomings, personalities and tastes. If I acknowledged this in theory, I had to be willing to see it in myself. I realized that I might be able to perform a great many jobs or duties, there were those things that I had a natural aptitude for, and other things which came with greater difficulty. Some things just seemed to "fit" better than others...

Now this may seem oh-so-obvious, but it may raise some concerns, as well. For instance, what if you find that you are gifted for a job that society may not glorify? What if your family doesn't value this profession? What if you have to settle for a shorter check in a culture gone mad with materialism? This isn't a slam dunk for everyone, and this is seldom actually discovered in any of the multitude of personality tests that experts want to offer...

So if the Lord made me, and he made me for a purpose, what then? Well, as I wed these two truths, I see that as I work at my vocation, I am fulfilling His purposes. It is, whether consciously or not, obedience. If I understand that I am only one piece of this enormous puzzle, with each piece being fitted for a specific place in the whole, then I begin to see that by obeying this fundamental calling, I am actually serving my fellow man.

Then, if I see that I am serving my fellow man, I also must see that my fellow man also serves me and my needs. The self-made, self-sufficient man may be the most absurd idol ever imagined. Truly it was said, "No man is an island." We are, all of us, interconnected in ways too deep to get our arms around. Instead of seeing some as servants to be pitied, and others as masters to be envied, I see that whether we fully see it or not, we are all servants. This should come as no surprise when we meditate on the Cross.

So not only did He make me, and for a purpose, but he made me to be a servant to his other creatures. By exercising my gifts, the gifts he gave me, I glorify Him. If I apply myself to this calling with vigor, humility, and joy, I draw close to the heart of worship. As Eric Liddell, the olympic gold medal runner, said in Chariots of Fire, "God (also) made me fast, and when I run, I feel HIS pleasure." This kind of worship grants even the most menial of tasks with the deepest dignity...

Can you see that the man running the bulldozer can lay an offering on the altar as beautiful as the nun who ministers to the destitute in Calcutta? Isn't that... just amazing? What can your life be? What song can you sing with your life?

If we come full circle, I realize that I still carry a solemn charge, but it isn't quite the way I imagined it (and maybe not how my family understood it, either). It is not a matter so much of redeeming a family name, but redeeming my life by serving the Name Above All Names. It is not about trying to be anything but what I was made to be. It is no longer a matter of being honored among men, but being rewarded by the giver of every good and perfect gift.

And this is where the road has led me. As is often the case, despite the frustration of the young, experience has a way of lending more clarity to things. My prayer is that as I continue to grow in wisdom and years, I might gain an even deeper appreciation for this worship... that I might prove to be a worthy vessel for the rich gifts my Father has bestowed on me. Just by being... me.

Great Expectations... Pt. 3

As I began to work my way through these various trades and pay grades, I encountered something my precocious mind wasn't prepared for. Namely, I worked with a lot of really, really smart guys out there in blue collar jobs. Now, don't throw me under the bus for how dumb this sounds (as least finish reading first). Let me share a SMALL sampling of the people I encountered who shook my tree...

I worked for a painter who went to college for teaching, but got tired of the politics and short pay. He was a terrific man with a sharp mind and warm humor. I met a loader operator who had a full ride scholarship to a tech school, but declined it because he figured that rather than take all that time in a classroom, he would just read the books the teachers wrote (or the books that they read themselves)! Yeah, and he was actually reading these books, too. I worked with welders who understood Geometry and Trigonometry far better than, I suspect, some of the teachers that I had. I could go on and on, but I think that you get a glimpse...

None of these guys were miserable or unhappy in their work. That is not to say everyday was a celebration (it is a job, after all), but these were not galley slaves resigned to empty lives. To be frank, these guys seemed to have lives full of joy that I did not usually see mirrored in those who had the "white collar" jobs. They enjoyed the great outdoors, ate food that their own hands may have killed and butchered, sometimes worked right alongside their own sons, bragged about grandkids, watched over their elderly parents, etc, etc. Now, this is not saying that they were all of noble blood (jerks and dogs reside in every tier of society), but many lived what I might call "rich lives."

Maybe the most disarming of all, most of these men had a common-sense, clear-thinking way of seeing life that just cut right through the usual classroom theorizing. They had been raised on the meat and potatoes of Integrity, Work Ethic, and Family. They found the classroom (and the educational establishment), with its' abstract discussions and office-bound lifestyles, restricting and less than satisfying. What I had assumed was inability was actually a self-realization and wisdom that I myself did not possess...

Another discovery that I made was the truly profound joy of working with my hands (or maybe producing tangible results might be another way to say it). I was used to making calculations or writing a paper, and while these things served their purpose, it was nothing like solving real world problems and actually producing a day's work. It was mentally invigorating, AND physically exhausting. It was so... satisfying.

So what was I to say? How could I reconcile what I was seeing and feeling with that solemn charge so long ago? You know, that whole get a "good" job and "be somebody" thing we talked about back in part one. What did/does that really, actually mean anymore? As I look at my own rapidly growing son, what would I encourage him to do with his life? I think that the answer lies in my perceptions of worship, servanthood, vocation, and God as my Creator.

The Conclusion is next...