Significance in the mundane or in the busy of life can be non-existent. Life can get to a place where you never stop long enough to know if there is significance in your day? Do you ever feel as if your daily routine is monotonous and boring or so busy that you do not stop to breathe?
I know if you have children, no matter the age, you can definitely experience the unexpected and craziness that life can bring. But in your personal daily life, things can get so busy that paying attention to yourself and your needs can be, not just on the back burner, but non-existent! Of course, there is the significance of your responsibilities like school, job, sport, volunteer positions, church, being a parent or a spouse, etc. But the significance I am referring to is the personal significance of taking the time to care for yourself and knowing God’s plan for you DAILY!
Proverbs 4:23 states, “Above all else guard your heart, for EVERYTHING YOU DO FLOWS FROM IT.” That is where significance is found. God, more than anything, desires for us to “guard” ourselves. To protect our heart so that what we do on a daily basis can have meaning and purpose. It doesn’t say just some things we do but EVERYTHING WE DO comes from a “guarded heart”.
Learning what that really meant has been a fork in the road for me. I have a better understanding now of the words found in Mark 12:30-31. “Love the Lord you God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. The second is to “love your neighbor as yourself. There is no commandment greater than these.” I got this a little wrong. No, I GOT IT A LOT WRONG and it turned my life upside down. Seriously, Scripture is powerful and sometimes we can have GREAT INTENTIONS. Moving down the road of life and we suddenly have a “blow out”. We realize, “WOW, I really got that WRONG!” …even if you are well-meaning. God loves us so much that He will do anything necessary to reel us back in and love us back to a place of grace, restoration, peace and rest.
My “blow out” occurred when I got verse 30 and 31 backwards!!!! I started to love neighbors more than God! This was in the form of “people pleasing!” A psychological term that you hear quite often referred to as “enabling”. First, let me inform you that the definition of neighbor can mean anyone–your kids, your husband, your mother or father, your brother or sister, extended family, friends, next door neighbor, co-worker, you fill in the blank. Your neighbor is anyone but yourself. Working to help, encourage, please, can become an “IDOL” in your life especially if it comes before God.
What does putting God first and applying verse 30 mean? First, having a daily quiet time with God and opening your “heart” to Him. This time alone with God is key to “guarding your heart” and allowing HIM to direct your every move and daily schedule. God wants everything from you personally. HE wants your heart, soul, mind, added with all your strength……… AFTER that comes everyone else. If that gets backwards, you have an “Idol!” AN INDIVIDUAL’S SIGNIFICANCE starts with Mark 12:30, NOT verse 31. It comes second!
Everyone has responsibilities that have to be fulfilled on a daily basis. Sometimes, if you are “prone to please” like I was, you can think making sure these responsibilities get done are pleasing to God. And they are BUT this is the murky grey area that was soooooooo backwards in my life. I enjoyed making everything work for everyone, keeping peace and life going smoothly! I even had someone who worked part-time as a personal assistant in our home some years ago comment, “Wow, you are ALL THINGS TO ALL PEOPLE. I don’t know how you do it.” Well, I did it well for awhile until the exhaustion and emptiness set in. I would hit the floor in the morning and “suit up for the day”. Charge forward and handle any problem that came my way, even if it wasn’t my problem or one I created! I made myself way toooooooo responsible for others. After all, I Was LOVING MY NEIGHBOR??? BUT WHAT I WASN’T DOING WAS GUARDING MY HEART. Taking my day before God and inviting HIM in to see where I needed to “catch the ball” or where I needed “to let it drop”.
Figuring out MY RESPONSIBILITY in life and where the line needed to be DRAWN was only FOUND in taking it to GOD. I came to the ULTIMATE REALIZATION that I WAS NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR SOME THINGS, I was OWNING. I was even owning someone else’s bad day!!!!! The minute God started revealing to me HIS PLAN for my daily life, HE SHOWED me where I WAS TAKING ON THINGS THAT WERE NOT MINE. I was actually ROBBING someone of their RESPONSIBILITY!! Looking back now and seeing how I felt responsible even when someone else was having a bad day, when actually mine was going quite well, was “eye opening to me!” Catching balls that were thrown in the air by other people eventually led me to a place where there were so many balls IN THE AIR I WAS REACHING, STRETCHING TO CATCH, THAT I hit a wall. I knew that something had to give!!
IF you are reading this and it sounds familiar???? Please stop what you are doing, fall on your face and ask God to show you how to “drop your hands!” Ask HIM about “your significance” and how He sees your responsibility. Put HIM first! When you sincerely seek God with all your heart, soul and mind, with all your strength, HE WILL SHOW UP AND HE WON’T DISAPPOINT!! He will organize your thoughts, emotions, and your day. He will show you SPECIFICALLY WHAT HE HAS FOR YOU, NOT SOMEONE ELSE. Guard your HEART AND, IN ORDER TO DO THAT, HAVE NO ONE ON THE THRONE BUT HIM. Then you can live my LIFE VERSE, Proverbs 3:5-6, “Trust in the Lord with all YOUR HEART, and lean NOT to YOUR OWN understanding, in ALL YOUR WAYS acknowledge HIM and HE will make YOUR paths straight!”