The Julie/Julia Project

I watched Julie & Julia today, because I decided to take a break this afternoon after a few days of chasing date lines and lack of sleep. To be honest, I was really inspired by the movie, not just to cook, but also to think about what I really want to do with my life. Or rather, to know what God had really made me for and where He wants me to be in my life.

Isn't the best thing to do is to be doing what you were really made for, to be at the place that you were really meant to be? I think that's where real joy can be found. I don't believe that a Christian is limited to doing something within the church or within conventional mission field. Or that doing full time should be a kind of higher-calling. I am not putting full-time staff down, I do believe that they are important in the church and prayerfully, each one has been led by the will of God. How much powerful our lives' testimony can be if we are so happy and so skilled at what we're doing. I would like to think that if God gave us a talent or gift, it would glorify Him if we pursue that excellence. Not with false modesty, not for self-gain/self-worth/self-satisfaction. For example, if God gave a person the gift to cook, and this person cooks to his best abilities, so that others could be blessed, so that others can see Christ's testimony, wouldn't God be glorified, wouldn't real joy flow through and consequentially flow to others too? Living the life of Christ doesn't mean we do Christian things, but rather be like Christ no matter what we do. So that whatever that we do, we can do it for the glory of God. Today, I really understood 1 Corinthians 10:13, that "whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God." Our lives can absolutely be in the centre of God's will. Not only in church offices, or rural villages - even in kitchens, in school, in a store, in a cafe; whether you are singing, baking, painting, typing, teaching, leading, testing, operating...Isn't that such a wonderful thing! I realise I need to take a step back and reevaluate my life, to seriously pray and ask God what He has called me to do, what He has made me to do in this life, what can I do with my gifts. The run-of-the-mill/rat race/average kind of life is simply too much of a compromise, there's simply so much to lose if we live our lives as how others have lived or how the world tells us to live: get good grades, get a job, get a good salary, get a spouse, get a house, get a family, get a career, get a retirement plan...

"First I was dying to finish high school and start college
And then I was dying to finish college and start working
And I was dying to marry and have children
And then I was dying for my children to grow old enough so I could return to work
And then I was dying to retire
And now, I am dying...and suddenly realise I forgot to live"

- anonymous quote from Life Wide Open, David Jeremiah

It's never too late to start and get right with God. Here and now.

The Poet with His Face in His Hands

You want to cry aloud for your
mistakes. But to tell the truth the world
doesn’t need anymore of that sound.

So if you’re going to do it and can’t
stop yourself, if your pretty mouth can’t
hold it in, at least go by yourself across

the forty fields and the forty dark inclines
of rocks and water to the place where
the falls are flinging out their white sheets

like crazy, and there is a cave behind all that
jubilation and water fun and you can
stand there, under it, and roar all you

want and nothing will be disturbed; you can
drip with despair all afternoon and still,
on a green branch, its wings just lightly touched

by the passing foil of the water, the thrush,
puffing out its spotted breast, will sing
of the perfect, stone-hard beauty of everything.

(Mary Oliver)

I wait for You and my soul finds rest
in my selfishness, You show me Grace

For You know better than I
You know my way
I've let go the need to know why
'Cos You know better than I

My Soul Finds Rest (Psalm 52)

My soul finds rest in God alone
My Rock and my salvation
A fortress strong against my foes
And I will not be shaken.
Though lips may bless and hearts may curse
And lies like arrows pierce me
I’ll fix my heart on righteousness
I’ll look to Him who hears me

O praise Him, hallelujah
My Delight and my Reward
Everlasting, never failing
My Redeemer, my God.

Find rest, my soul, in God alone
Amid the world’s temptations
When evil seeks to take a hold
I’ll cling to my salvation.
Though riches come and riches go
Don’t set your heart upon them
The fields of hope in which I sow
Are harvested in heaven

O praise Him, hallelujah
My Delight and my Reward
Everlasting, never failing
My Redeemer, my God

I’ll set my gaze on God alone
And trust in Him completely
With every day pour out my soul
And He will prove His mercy
Though life is but a fleeting breath
A sigh too brief to measure
My King has crushed the curse of death
And I am His forever

O praise Him, hallelujah
My Delight and my Reward
Everlasting, never failing
My Redeemer, my God

O praise Him, hallelujah
My Delight and my Reward
Everlasting, never failing
My Redeemer, my God

[Aaron Keyes/Stuart Townend]