For a long time, I have lived with a “good enough” mentality.
I have had just enough skill, just enough ability, just enough vision, just enough influence, to do things to a point where I could say “Yeah, this is good. Good enough”. That attitude has generated something very unhealthy and honestly, not God-honoring. It has developed a lack of clarity on the value and potential that God has put inside of me. I have the potential to inspire value and meaning in the environments and people I am in and around, every day. Yet how often do I just go through the motions, taking advantage of these opportunities like they really don’t matter that much? In doing so, I not only fail to live my life as God intended, but I miss out on great opportunities to inspire others to live with value and intentionality.
Friends, you and I are created with such intention and value. God didn’t just have a thought one day “Oh, I should create ________ (insert your name). Shoot, I am behind on creating them. I have created 5.8 billion other people at this point, I will just throw together some qualities, traits, skills, abilities; quick shape them, take hair count and send them on their way.” No! If you haven’t read Psalm 139:13–18 yet, check out this account of God’s creation process.
For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. How precious to me are your thoughts, God! How vast is the sum of them. Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand — when I awake, I am still with you (Psalm 139:13–18).
If you notice, you weren’t an after thought. You were not just thrown together. You were not just one of the billions created. You weren’t manufactured. You were “knit together.” Maybe you have seen someone knitting before? It’s a process. It takes HOURS to knit something really, really beautiful. Are you not more than some blanket or warm fuzzy item knit together by a mere human? You were knit together; God spent time on you, God FOCUSED on you. He paid attention to every detail. Not only did God spend time on you, focusing on creating someone truly astounding, He has thoughts about you.
He thinks about you. His thought life has YOU in it. I want you to try something right now: Write down the first ten POSITIVE thoughts about yourself. How did it go? Was it easy? Hard? Now try to write down ten NEW, POSITIVE THOUGHTS about yourself. How was that? Easier? Harder? My guess is, it got harder as you tried to have more new thoughts about yourself. Friends, God’s thoughts outnumber the sands of all the seashores. Here’s some fun math for you to consider the weight of this passage: It is roughly estimated there are seven quintillion, five hundred quadrillion grains of sand; or 7,500,000,000,000,000,000. That is a rough estimate and scripture says God’s thoughts about you OUTNUMBER that. I wonder if your life was created with value, intention and focus?
You know what’s great about this moment? It’s a moment in time that is different than any other moment. In this moment, you are face to face with a decision about belief: Do you believe God truly created you with focus, intentionality and value? Do you believe your life is meant to be lived with focus, intentionally and value?
Friends, you are in a new year.
You know what that means; new thoughts, new visions for your life, new goals, new aspirations. How about as you breathe in the air of 2019, you pause. You put down your phone, you stop thinking about what you want to give up or take up, you get away for ten minutes in silence; and just start thanking God for FOCUSING on putting you together. Thank God for how much He thinks about you. Then, ask Him one thing: “God, in this moment, help me live with a focus that brings value and intentionality to every relationship and every work environment I am involved with.” You see whether you are a stay at home mom, a CEO, a government office worker, a teacher, a ministry person, a high school student, college student, professor, cashier, sales person, work in corporate America or retired; your life matters. God has poured focus, intentionality and value into the very essence of your being.
To live 2019 differently than 2018, it really can be boiled down to FOCUS. What needs more focus or less attention? What has God given you skill and passion for that you aren’t doing now? Who are the people in your life that you see everyday, but have just become mundane relationships because of the “good enough” mentality? Have you adopted a “good enough” mentality at your job? How about the time you spend with your kids or spouse or loved ones, is it just “good enough to get by”? When we refuse to live “good enough”, we boldly declare our lives and those around us matter enough to live differently. As you live with a focus inspired by God’s focus on you, our lives turn into a big mirror, reflecting God’s great love and care He has for all people.
We have a lot to give this new year. Let’s pause to reflect on who our source of FOCUS is and let’s become people who focus and live with intentionality, showing people just how valuable they are to us and our awesome Creator!