Live More Purposefully

I remember Esther’s 100th birthday. She lived at the care center where I was the chaplain in Norwich, NY. I asked Esther if she had gotten to do everything she wanted to in life. She replied, “No. It went by so fast.”

“The older I get…”—how would you finish that sentence for yourself? The older I get, the more I recognize how fast time flies. The more I recognize how fast time flies, the more I realize the importance of choosing well how I spend my time. My dad, even up in his upper 80’s, would often say, “I want to make good use of my time.”

Whatever our goals are for this year, this month, this week, this day, this hour, when we seek to live in the center of God’s will for us we will be “making good use of our time.”

The author, Thomas R. Kelly, in his book, A Testament of Devotion, quoted Meister Eckhart: “There are plenty to follow our Lord half-way, but not the other half. They will give up possessions, friends and honors, but it touches them too closely to disown themselves.” Kelly goes on to say, “It is just this astonishing life which is willing to follow {Christ} the other half, sincerely to disown itself, this life which intends complete obedience, without my reservations, that I would propose to you in all humility, in all boldness, in all seriousness. I mean this literally, utterly, completely, and I mean it for you and for me — commit your lives in unreserved obedience to {Christ}.”

Kelly encourages us with these words: “Begin where you are. Obey now. Use what little obedience you are capable of, even if it be like a grain of mustard seed. Live this present moment, this present hour as you now sit in your seats, in utter, utter submission and openness toward {Christ}.’”

This is not just a one time commitment. Kelly writes: “I find this internal continuous prayer life absolutely essential. It can be carried on day and night, in the thick of business, in home and school. Such prayer of submission can be so simple. It is well to use a single sentence, repeated over and over and over again, such as this: ‘Be Thou my will. Be Thou my will,’ or ‘I open all before Thee. I open all before Thee,’ or ‘See earth through heaven. See earth through heaven.'”

Of course, this is not a new concept. The Apostle Paul invites us to place our whole selves before God: “So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering…Fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out.” (Romans 12, The Message, selected verses).

May we take August as an opportunity to live more purposefully in the center of God’s will!