Calling Card

Even as I am writing this morning, our front door is being repaired.  It had been crying visibly for some time to be scraped, sanded, re-stained and covered in a new coat of varnish.  Blistering hot, deep Southern sun had daily bombarded its finish, until it hung visibly distraught and vulnerable to further damage.

Sergio is the skilled individual who is doing the work.  It is obvious in how he does his job and how he approaches it that he views his work and himself, not as just a workman, but as an artisan.  This is not a mundane job to him, but a work of art.  He sees restoration in what he does. He does it with excellence.  And tomorrow, he will move onto another scheduled appointment.

But a painter of doors is not all who he is or to what he is called.

The world's idea of calling is that the one and only thing you are good at will bring you significance, happiness, and purpose to your life. And if you don't find that one thing, your life will not have meaning. You missed out. The world says "you were meant for this, and this alone."

But God says I am not called to a singular profession, nor any at all.  We are not called to something but to Someone. Our identity significance, meaning, and purpose are not manifest in what we do, but to be found in Him. 

From that point, His appointments are limitless, and every good endeavor, however small or big, visible or invisible, bears the mark of the Almighty. Everything fits together without seams. I don't have to understand something for it to carry profound purpose for untold numbers of people in manifold dimensions and for His glory.

The world says what you do
                        is who you are.
But God says,
               you are Mine.

God calls us to Himself.
He appoints us
  not necessarily to what we are good at,
        gifted for,
    or sometimes even like doing.
His purposes and power go way deeper than ourselves.
His capacity is not limited
                        by my capabilities.

Our life's work
              is worshiping the LORD,
no matter what that looks like,
      manifest in daily appointments. 
The most significant thing I can do today
                     is to be faithful to Him.
Not just what I do --no matter what--
 but how I do it with all my best,
                      and why I do it:
                                  to glorify Him.
His glory can't help but get all over everything, even the unexpected, the impossible, the not obvious at all.

I glorified You on earth,
having accomplished the work
that You gave me to do.

                     John 17. 4

In whatever appointment God places before me today,
             may I be faithful and fruitful.
Nothing but nothing, no one but no one,
      is insignificant in His kingdom.
I can bring Him glory in every detail of my day,
                            even in my attitude.

Please help me, O LORD, to see my work
                      as worship to You,
in the big stuff and even in what I can only see as mundane.
I am called to You.
My relationship with You impacts everything I do,
changes what I think,
and profoundly influences everyone around me.
Be glorified, O LORD, even in this day.

Years ago, when someone came to a house or office, they would leave behind a small card with one's name and address to reveal who had been there.  

May my calling card be not what bears my name,

                     but His.