Recently I had some good help in doing some garage straightening-up. Five year-old Mac and almost three year-old Sawyer were glad to help their Papa figure out where things should go after all of the Christmas excitement.
Watching them, I noticed that the more responsibility I gave, the more focus they had, as well as a good sense of ownership for the outcome. They rose to the task and found great satisfaction in doing so.
It is often the case that our best growth happens when we have a significant responsibility, what we might even refer to as a calling. And the opposite is also true. We languish and our lives even become degraded when what we are doing matters little.
This Sunday at the Gathering Church we focus on an incredible calling that God gives to the followers of Jesus: to be his special people and priest to the world. The calling is found in 1 Peter 2:4-10 and once again it is remarkable that God would entrust such responsibility to ordinary people.
How does life get elevated when people step into their callings?
How do our stresses and demands actually shrink to their proper proportions, sometimes disappearing altogether, when we answer the highest calling?
How does the one who called us shape us into the people we hoped we would be?