UMC20220306 Why am I here
UMC20220306 - Why am I here¶
One of my closest friends and I have a weekly ritual of going out for breakfast on a Saturday morning. It is a cherished time in my week as it is an opportunity for us to both ask that Wesleyan question, “How goes it with your soul?”. A recent topic we have explored is about a kind of meaninglessness or lack of drive that seems to have crept into our spare time. In our youth, this time was filled with drive and pregnant potential where we wondered and dreamed of what the future held. Yet now, 30+ years in, it seems that the list of possibilities and adventures are much shorter.
Why is it that we feel this way? I think that in our early years we spend a lot of our time waiting for the next phase of life that is expected of us. School -> university -> work -> etc. We are not as in control of our time and our tasks as we think. School tells us where to be, what to work on next, what to wear and then we move on to university and our first job which does much of the same. We end up being in this perpetual state of waiting to live and it is only after many years that we stop and ask, “Hang on, what is it that I want to do?” or “What is it that I enjoy?” or “What is my purpose?”.
Post-breakfast I have been thinking about these things and the quote by mathematician Blaise Pascal comes to mind, “There is a God-shaped vacuum in the heart of each man which cannot be satisfied by any created thing but only by God the Creator, made known through Jesus Christ.” I am coming to realise that my Christian journey is mostly about finding life in Christ. And this life does not happen in the future, it happens now. Christ has come so that we may have life and have it abundantly. Have I figured out how this works exactly? No. But I have had glimpses of it. And these glimpses have left me hungry for more.
Love Cliff