Barking With Purpose

My mom has a dog named Toby.  Toby has one purpose in life: to love and protect my mom.  And he devotes every minute of his life to this purpose.  He follows Mom everywhere she goes.  He sits on her chair while she eats.  He sleeps next to her.  When she watches TV, he watches it, too.  He’s always on the lookout for dogs on TV, and when he sees one, he barks and growls and runs from the TV to Mom and back again—it’s like he’s saying, “Do you see that, too?  Should I do something?” He barks at anyone or anything who passes the house so that he can warn Mom of possible trouble.  He barks at the neighbor kids.  He barks at toads.  I once saw him bark at a dragonfly.  He’s kind of the Kim Jong Un of the canine world—he barks incessantly at perceived threats but runs and hides if it appears that the threat might be real.  Still, he does warn Mom.  And when Mom goes out of town, he lies on the back of her couch in a deep depressive state.  He doesn’t play with his toy.  His ears droop.  Without Mom, Toby simply has no purpose.

I lived in that droopy-eared, depressed state longer than I care to admit.  I spent my days marking time simply because I didn’t know what else to do.  Like Toby without Mom, I had no purpose.  Then one day, while writing an editorial for the newspaper, I had a feeling of peace and joy settle over me.  I felt like I was doing what I’d been created to do.

My parents, husband, and I have a show we watch together that’s based in Australia.  (Toby loves this show because there’s a dog in it.)  On the show, whenever a character does something worthwhile, another character will say, “Good on ya.”  When I first heard that on the show, I thought back to the day when I was writing that editorial—and I realized that the feeling of peace and joy I had then was as if God was placing His hand on my shoulder and saying, “Good on ya, Renee.”  And I still have that feeling every time I write.

What exactly is that feeling?  I think it’s purpose.  I think it’s finding out what God created you to do and doing it.  The other day I came across a book that my dad wrote for us kids when we were in high school  about how to live life on “the narrow road”—taken from the verse that says, “Narrow is the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.”  (Matt. 7:14)  How do you find that narrow road?  How do you find your purpose?  The following quote is from Dad’s book:

“First, use the Bible to define what God’s purpose is for every believer.  Some passages to look at are Ephesians 2:10, Ephesians 4:12-15, Philippians 3:10-16, and a number of others.  Prayerfully search out how these verses can be made specific to you.  Second, ask yourself—what are my spiritual gifts and my unique personality traits and gifts?  What kinds of things that I see really seem to hold meaning?  Third, ask yourself from your experience—what am I attracted to?  What are my interests?  What do I really like doing?  When have I felt that certain feeling of ‘this’ is why I was created?”

Again and again in the book, Dad emphasizes the importance of finding your purpose—so few people do.  And a purposeless life is such a waste.  I wish I had taken the time back in high school to define my purpose.  Instead, it took me years to realize what it was.  What matters is that after much reflection, a lot of mistakes, and some misguided attempts at trying to live out other people’s purposes, I found mine.  My purpose is to know God and to make Him known—and I do that mostly through writing.

One of my favorite authors is Mary Stolz.  In one of her books, she writes:

“But there was something more, something deeper and almost outside myself, as though I’d been touched by a hand of blessing.  It was inside, too, as though a sense I’d known before had stirred in my veins; an inner voice had spoken.  ‘This is worthwhile,’ it said.  ‘This is what to labor for and live for.  This is your way.’”

Your way.  It may not look like anyone else’s.  And it might be hard to find.  But once you do find it, and you feel God’s hand of blessing on you, you’ll get to walk that narrow road instead of wandering aimlessly like almost everybody else.  You’ll get to enjoy where God has placed you.  You’ll know why you get up in the morning.  You won’t waste time on activities that have nothing to do with your purpose in life.  You’ll get to have moment after moment of hearing God say, “Good on ya.”  And just like Toby after Mom comes home from a trip, your ears will perk up.  Your eyes will shine.  And you’ll want to get off the couch and live–purposefully.

Now–for those of you who happen to live near a dog like Toby—this is for you: