I heard someone say once that the definition of “luck” was “preparation meeting opportunity.” The point the speaker was making was that those people we consider “lucky,” having fallen into some overnight success, are really people who quietly and diligently prepared for an opportunity they believed would one day come. Because of their preparation, they were ready to take advantage of opportunity when it arrived.
For the last six weeks we’ve been discussing several aspects of recognizing and understanding your unique God given purpose; that special thing you we’re created to accomplish in God’s plan for mankind.
By now you know that you’ve been built for the unique purpose God has planned for you; it’s in your DNA. Your life experience and circumstance, the path you’ve traveled, has been leading you to and preparing you for your purpose.
You’ve learned that in order to take on your role in His purpose, you have to relinquish control of the steering wheel. In order make your life matter eternally, you have to be willing to surrender your own say-so about where your life is going right now.
You’ve learned that your purpose and your behavior are two different things. What’s required of you every day isn’t so unique; it’s required of each of us. And you can’t be on purpose and off behavior at the same time. You can’t disobey the rules that were set out for all of us and expect to successfully follow the unique purpose the Rule Maker has laid out specifically for you.
You’ve learned that you can’t follow the Leader without ever talking to Him or listening to Him. The One who gave you purpose expects relationship. Without it you’ll never be able to stay on the path; because He’s the one leading you.
Last week you learned about obedience and the difference between little “o” and big “O”. Little “o” is behavior; acting the way you know you’re supposed to act. Big “O” is obedience when He’s given you a task. Here’s the secret: the “task” is your purpose. The big thing you’ve been looking for. The thing we’ve been talking about all this time!
You can have one big task in your lifetime that defines the reason God put you on this earth or you may have been given a lot of little tasks that together define why He put you here.
People have a tendency to always be looking for the “big task,” the big reason that will define their purpose. Too often we romanticize or glorify the “big task” and ignore or downplay the little tasks. But little tasks add up.
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Almost sixty years ago, in the city of Calcutta, a little Albanian nun gave a starving child a bit of rice. She had no resources; undoubtedly the rice she gave away was meant for her own nourishment. The act went unnoticed by the world (not by the child).
The city they were living in was gripped by famine; millions of people were starving. The poorest of the poor, like this child, had no hope at all. There was no chance for their survival. What good would it do to give this one child one bit of rice? It wouldn’t stop the poverty in the city; this child and more like her would soon succumb to death by starvation and disease. One tiny act of mercy couldn’t possibly make a difference.
The little nun had no means of support. Many times she was reduced to begging for food and supplies to feed and care for those hopeless, dying souls around her. She was overwhelmed, but she kept moving; one child, one leper, one terminally ill patient at a time.
I doubt if she had the “big task” in mind. She was just doing as she was told, one little act of mercy at a time. If you asked her, the reason she was living on the street with the sick and starving was simple. “I was to leave the convent and help the poor while living among them. It was an order. To fail would have been to break the faith.” God had spoken to her, had given her a task; it was the big “O”.
When she said yes to the big “O” it was with a “little task”; an act of mercy so small no one else noticed. But she was faithful to her purpose with another small act of mercy and another and another.
The first year was miserable. She actually became one of the starving and destitute she had come to comfort. But she survived.
Little by little, over forty years, workers came to join her and others donated money to help her with her mission. When her task was over it was evident to the world that Mother Theresa had been singled out by God for a very special purpose. By the time she had finished the purpose she had been given, 4,000 sisters, 300 brothers and over 100,000 lay volunteers had joined her, working in 610 missions in 123 countries.
Today it’s easy for us to see Mother Theresa’s purpose in life; her “big task.” Do you think anyone saw it then? That first year when she left the comfort of the convent to live by herself in the streets of the world’s most impoverished city? Do you think she saw herself as doing the “big task”; the unique thing her Creator had planned for her life at the beginning of all things?
I don’t think so. I think she heard His voice and heard it clearly and jumped out of the boat. She was simply doing what she was told; no matter how uncomfortable or dangerous or foolish it seemed at the time.
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Timing is being ready to jump when you’re called. It’s also about not worrying if what you’re being called to do is the “big task” or not.
If you’ve already heard that call and jumped out of the boat and the waves are getting big and the wind is starting to scare you, stop for a second and remember Who called you out of the boat in the first place.
Don’t you think the disciples in the boat thought Peter was an idiot when he jumped overboard? Don’t you think Peter thought he was an idiot himself as he started sinking beneath the waves? It was only afterward, after everything turned out okay that everybody patted him on the back and considered him a man of great faith.
If you just jumped out of the boat, don’t spend a lot of time worrying about the waves or dreaming about the ticker-tape parade you’ll get on shore; just keep your eyes on the One who called you and keep moving.
If you’re still in the boat, waiting for the big call, take a look around you. Purpose is everywhere. Sometimes it’s hiding in the little “o”.
How did you do at work today? Did you stand up for the guy being ridiculed for his faith, or his looks, or his inability to fit in with the office clique? How about the dirty jokes or the nasty little gossip session? Did you let your light shine?
How about at home with the kids? Did you praise God for those little gems and consider them with wonder and thanksgiving. Or did you scream at the little brats and threaten them with theirs lives because they were acting like children.
How about the bum sitting on the park bench? How about the old lady in the grocery store parking lot who can’t seem to wrestle the dog food bag into her trunk? How about the single mom next door with the lousy yard that the neighborhood is so ashamed of?
You get the idea. If you feel like you’re still in the boat waiting for the big call, the “big task” to come along, pick up a rake and get to work; you may just be surprised how easy this purpose thing is.
You may also be surprised that the measly little nothing act of mercy you just did, leads to another … and another.
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Next week, we’ll put it all together. Let’s see if we can boil down these last seven weeks into a simple game plan.
Until then: “The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace” (Numbers 6:24-26).
