PURPOSE

I have asked myself many a time what this word means, what my purpose is and how to discover it. At one point I thought that in order to discover my purpose all I needed to do was pray like really hard and boom! God would just tell me or show me. But God, as I came to find out, is not so obvious. Otherwise, if he were, life would be too easy and faith obsolete.

A few months ago a colleague of mind sat me down to explain to me that she was leaving and I was expected to carry her mantle at work (spiritually speaking). At first I didn't understand what she was talking about so, as usual, I got to asking her a myriad of questions. What am I expected to do? What do you mean by mantle? What does God expect of me in all this? What is my purpose here? Why am I here? Being the wise woman that she is she answered with this profound statement “You are like a Nehemiah of this age “

I love scripture. It’s profound and simple at the same time. It is such an oxymoron. I’ll digress a little and explain that. An oxymoron is a combination of two words that have opposite meanings. For example, almost. All means everything; every single thing. Most means not all. Almost is an oxymoron. Now, back to my line of thought.

Nehemiah. Who was Nehemiah in the bible? What did he do? I remember asking a friend of mine (a more schooled and familiar with the word person) who Nehemiah was. From Sunday school songs (let us sing the Minor Prophets…) I remember that Nehemiah was a book in the old testament classified under historical books. Nehemiah was an administrator the way I see it. He was a cup bearer in the King’s palace. Nehemiah heard that the walls of Jerusalem had fallen and requested the then king to return to Jerusalem in order to rebuild the wall. This was Nehemiah; an administrator, a supporter of the vision. The vision? You might ask is the rebuilding of the Jerusalem wall. The vision began with Haggai I think. Correct me if I am wrong please.

So, if this is who Nehemiah was then what does this mean for me at work? And in life in general? I am already an administrator by the very description of my job. But still, what does this all mean? What vision am I protecting? What work am I seeing through? When I try to look at it practically I see an organization that’s growing but I ask God what is the vision?

I am a vision protector and a builder. Even though most of the time I lack confidence in myself, I know I have it in me. My big question is what is the vision? You cannot help to grow something if you cannot see it clearly… can you? A good friend of mine once told me that’s it’s not good to want to understand everything. That some things are best when not fully understood. I agree with his statement but I wonder, how can I run with a vision that I do not understand? Remember Habakkuk in the bible? He was shown a vision by God. Then God tells him to write it down in order to make it plain that he may give it to he who shall run with it.

Vision. Is this purpose? Habakkuk had seen a vision of the Chaldeans taking siege over Jerusalem. He was baffled by this vision because the things that he saw were of violent scenes and wickedness. He could not understand how a loving God like Yahweh could allow such a vast nation to continue in its inequity. Even though he understood that the reason why these Chaldeans would conquer Jerusalem and take the Israelites captives he couldn't understand the prolonged captivity that the Israelites were about to enter. So because of this, Habakkuk decides to wait on God to answer him and God does answer. God tells him to write the vision down. My bible says ‘write the vision and make it plain on tablets that he may run who reads it....’

God was telling Habakkuk to write down everything that he had seen. I’m guessing that this was for storage sake. Not for God but for man. O that man would remember and testify to it when it actually takes place. It’s like the phrase ‘for the record…’ the next part gets interesting God says ‘for the vision is yet for an appointed time but at the end it will speak and it will not lie. Though it tarries wait for it because it will surely come. It will not tarry.’

I have really digressed haven’t I? Well it helps me understand things better when I give them a wider scope. So what is my purpose in life? I came to find out this past weekend that I am a teacher. Well it was affirmed that that is my gifting and calling. To teach the youth. Anybody over 24 all the way to 35. Wow! This is huge to me!! Scary too! But exciting. Though I am not sure how this will be applicable to me at work, I am trusting that God will direct me and show me.