Just recently, my heart was a little saddened at the thought that I had missed an opportunity to complete something that I believe was directly in line with my God-ordained purpose — but I had inadvertently dropped the ball by not following through.
At first, I eagerly took on the challenge and worked with enthusiasm to get through the assignment. But soon life events took over. I became so engrossed in what was happening in my life at the time that I’d tossed aside this commitment.
So, imagine how I felt recently – how my spirit became a little downcast when I realized that I may have missed a valuable opportunity for make a difference in someone else’s life.
Inertia. Stagnation. Distraction. Procrastination. They sought me out and I acquiesced. I laid aside an important task by inaction; lack of movement toward the desired goal. The finish line was right before me, but I’d gotten further away from it.
You see, I found out that a friend that I was working with on a very important project was suffering from dementia. I knew that she’d had moments of memory lapses but did not realize the extent. So as I continued with life and allowed distractions to take center stage, I had momentarily forgotten about the task at hand and the ball dropped to the point where I’d lost the momentum to finish the work. I got so caught up in life and what was happening on a day-to-day basis that time passed fleetingly by without me continuing the work.
At some point, life began to slow down as I adjusted to and settled into a new normal. I then realized that I had not seen her in a while and wondered what happened to her. It was if I had suddenly awakened from my slumber. Not a deep sleep but the kind that you’re aware of something happening on some level, but oblivious to everything else around you. In that zone. Asleep because life had continued to take me down some road that I was not fully focused on because it was not a road that I wanted to take. Alas, I wondered — had I missed an opportunity to finish a good work? Had I missed the opportunity to continue doing what God had called me to do?
You see, my friend is not the same person she was when we’d started on this project. Here I was poised to step directly into purpose but missed out on an opportunity to complete something that was sure to bring a smile to her heart.
How many times have you allowed life to derail Purpose? How many times have you gotten smack dab in the middle of something that you know without a doubt that God has called you to do only to be interrupted by something else?
To be truthful, there will always be interruptions of some kind. Life is about interruptions – both good and bad. There will always be competing priorities. But it’s about making optimal choices. Making the right choices for the right time. It’s about being plugged into your Purpose in such a way that missing it means that there is a noticeable void.
If there ever was a time to consider walking in Purpose it is now. Time is the great equalizer. Each of us has 24 hours in a day and we are confronted with individual choices to do something productive with our time. But from a cumulative perspective, none of us know how much time we have in the aggregate. So, it is up to us to use whatever time we have been afforded…wisely.
Women in Purpose 