What Living Your Purpose Can Look Like - Live Loved

I gripped the rough edges around my hand and turned to the right, twisting the screw until it wouldn’t turn anymore. The ragged edges left grooves in my hand that was not there previous to my project’s beginning, and I clung to the screwdriver tightly. Yanking the double knot of my bright orange apron, I fought my cousin for the hammer on the other side of the workbench. Being the first-born has its advantages, winning small competitions like this being one of them.

The sound of nails and screws echoed under the outdoor pavilion; the table rattled from the labor of my work. I quickly sanded the wood and did my best to accurately hammer the nails despite my impatience for wanting the finished product. Lastly, I slapped one coat of white paint over it and called it done.

My attempts at a DIY project were coming along nicely, at least from my perspective.

I was seven years old, and at the time, I liked to imagine I was crafty. Though, now, my stick figure drawings alone will tell you the accuracy of that statement. It was tradition to go to the Home Depot workshops every Saturday with my cousins. Each week, I had my work apron hanging on the bedroom door, ready to grab and go.

I lived for those Saturday mornings. My favorite part was the cinnamon roll I got at Chick-fil-A after pouring my heart and soul into the three pieces of wood I just pieced together.

My cousin and I took turns silently competing to see who could build the best project the fastest.

The Ziploc bag contained what was needed, the materials spilling out onto the table with folded-up instructions and sandpaper squares.

There were hours (realistically 30 minutes) spent drilling in the holes, hammering in the nails, sanding the wood, and making sure every piece was in its proper place. When I looked at the finished product, I wanted to be proud.

Our efforts did not go unnoticed when we were awarded our badges of honor for completion, though, most times not without the help of dad’s assistance. I would take my project home and eagerly wait to see my mom place it in a spot where everyone who visited could admire it. It was always the kitchen bar until it was time to be replaced with the next project.

Looking back, I don’t know why I deemed these projects so perfect. I look back on the few that my parents saved, and I see many mistakes, faults and imperfections. The screws are not in the right place, the edges are not fully sanded, and the paint is chipped.

Yet, at one time, I thought it was the most beautiful thing to exist. I guess when you’re older, things aren’t always seen the same way. The imperfections and mistakes are seen more than the beauty and perfection.

As I think about this tendency, I think about the urge we sometimes have to see a more skewed perception of ourselves instead of realizing the reality of our worth. It’s in these moments I catch myself turning to Ephesians 2:10, which says, “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”

Ephesians 2:20 is saying more than the fact that we were born. We are CREATED. We are created in God’s image for His glory that He prepared for beforehand. We are God’s workmanship. Something He built. Something He spent time on and spent time with. We are something He put thought into- that His hands touched. Something He designed and pieced many parts together to make something good and whole that can only be formed by Him.

We are made for a purpose.

Yes, we may know this. Yes, we may have heard this. But I think sometimes there’s the temptation for us to ignore it. The temptation is to feed ourselves the lie that we may be the exception.

We fear that, yes, God did spend all of this time creating us and making us, but He probably isn’t happy with the outcome. The finished result isn’t as good as He remembered, and there are a few pieces left un-sanded, a few screws missing.

All of the things we don’t like about ourselves- the messy complications that consume our thoughts, the habits we tend to keep but continuously attempt to break, all of the little things that frustrate us- we assume also frustrate God. Or worse. We presume those things make us the exception to God’s mercy and grace. And love.

It’s moments when I find myself buying into the lies that I’m not good enough, or I’m not built to endure the circumstances I’m in, or I’m not in the place I’m meant to be that I like to sit on Ephesians 2:10. I am His workmanship. YOU are His workmanship- the very thing He put thought, effort, and time into designing and creating.

Throughout the Bible, we see verses throughout the Old and New Testament that serve as beautiful reminders of the adoration and affection our Maker has for us.

We see His intentions and His reasons for creation. In Genesis chapter one, when God created man, He created man in His image and likeness (verse 26). After He stepped back, in verse 31, it says, “And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good.”

Let’s not forget that.

Psalms 139: 13-14 says, “For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well.”

Another reminder we were carefully thought out and planned.

Even when we feel that we are unworthy, undesirable, and unlikeable, even when we feel messed up, chipped up, and even a little broken, we are not seen this way by our Maker.

You are uniquely designed and intricately created in His image, and because of that, you have a purpose.

The beautiful difference between what I created when I was seven and what God created when we were born is that He doesn’t make mistakes. We do.

We make many mistakes. But God does not make mistakes, and therefore, He did not make one when He made you, nor did He with where He has placed you.

Another beautiful difference is that we are not made from a cookie-cutter project where we function the same. We are different, and our parts are so intricately chosen and thought through, unrushed.

You are created on purpose with a purpose for a purpose.

You are put into a unique position to serve a God who made you with intentionality. Don’t take that purpose lightly.

Live it and live it boldly.