A Purposeful 2023
“‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.” Mark 12: 30-31 (NIV)
Have you ever found yourself just drifting aimlessly through the day? Flittering from one thing to the next, perhaps trying to accomplish several things, but not really doing any one thing all that well? Or picking up your phone with every notification or just scrolling and scrolling until you realize much more time has passed than you thought?
I only ask because I, too, struggle with this. Thanks for confirming I’m not alone.
We live in a world that is pulling our attention in so many different directions and has so many in-our-face distractions that it can be overwhelming. We women often carry multiple roles: wife, mother, daughter, sister, friend, leader, worker, cook, cleaner, personal shopper, chauffeur...the list could go on for pages.
We lose sight of our purpose for all the clutter, chatter, demands, notifications, and distractions of the world around us.
The first time I recall choosing a word for the year, a word that would lead me as I endeavor to do God’s will in my life, was about three years ago. I chose “focus.” Then two years ago, I chose “intentional,” but I didn’t feel like I was intentional enough, so I put it on repeat last year.
I now realize I may have been working my way backward to the word I’ve chosen for 2023, “purpose.” Typical me to do it the hard way, yet I believe God worked through it to bring about deeper spiritual truths than I might have gained had I followed a straight and narrow path.
Or maybe, rather than backwards, it’s a repeating circle of focus, intention and purpose. Purpose fuels focus and intention, but focus and intention are also needed to define purpose. Sure, I had purpose in the background of what I’ve done over the years, but I’m finding that by more clearly defining my purpose, I do less flittering around and more life-giving service with those in my path.
January is, for many, a time of goal setting. The new year brings about a sense of hope and the feeling of a blank canvas upon which we can paint the journey ahead. Before you pick up the brush to begin painting the beautiful landscape of the year ahead, why not reflect upon and pray about the purposes God is setting before you and how you can more fully lean into those purposes with your focus and intention?
Our greatest commandments are to love God and to love others (Mark 12: 30-31). This is the core of our purpose. The question becomes, “how?” How, in your unique and beautifully created reflection of God, are you going to live a life of love?
And if you need help as you are prayerfully trying to figure out those purposes in your own life, we have people and resources available to help you along the way. We’re meant to do this together; you’re not alone.
So today, we challenge you to write down your purpose(s) and let that guide you in forming your goals and the small, sustainable steps you can take each day toward them. Or, if you’re not sure what your purposes are, we challenge you to begin a time of prayerful exploration in which you intentionally focus on discovering what God has in store for your purposeful life of love.
Dear God, as we begin this new year you have set before us, may we do so with intention and focus on the purposes you have placed in our lives. Help us to connect with you and those purposes on a deeper level so that we may more fully live into the life of love and service you have placed within each of us. Help us to see each step as you place it before us, and help us not to falter, but when we inevitably do, to learn from it and to grow even more into your purposes. And if we don’t yet know or understand our purposes, guide us as we endeavor to discover the purposeful life you have for each of us. We pray in Jesus’ name, amen.
-Laura Greer
Women2Women
Women2Women is a ministry that encourages women to cultivate an intimate relationship with Christ while also exploring how God has uniquely created, gifted, and called each of us. We connect with women where they are in life’s journey, providing opportunities for spiritual growth, health and wellness, intergenerational fellowship, friendship, and mentoring. Events and retreats are targeted to the needs of women so we can grow deeper in our faith, develop our gifts and abilities, and establish long lasting friendships. For more information contact Laura Greer at (828) 456-3993, ext. 204 or Laura.Greer@LongsChapel.com, or Vickie Staib at (828) 646-8819.
