Throughout the month of February I have meditated on a message, by the late Dr. Myles Munroe, about why men are under attack and need vision. The message has led me into meditating on the cycle of life and our uniquely crafted roles within the cycle by first, starting with creation; then connecting creation to purpose. To dive deeper, I began examining purpose to extract what my uniquely crafted gifts are in order to identify how my gifts serve me in my work, not my job, which is a concept I will process later in the series of posts – but first, lets examine why you were created.
Normally in a counseling setting, when clients are interested in wanting to determine their purpose and if they are in the right place of employment, I would ask them a number of questions. What do you do well? What do you love doing that you would do it for free if you had the opportunity? Who or what are you passionate about? What problem in the world makes you sick to the point that if you had the time and resources to create a solution, you would devote your time? Are you starting to see where I am going with these questions? The stacking of questions begins the self-assessment process. Within in this process, I, the counselor, am interested in co-exploring what makes you tick and what makes you feel fulfilled. Throughout this post, I want you to pay close attention and take note of the following key terms I will be highlighting: Work, Creation, Man, and GIFT(s).
What were you created to do? WORK; it fulfills you.
Sigmund Freud said, “Love and work are the cornerstones of our humanness” (Freud, 1930/1989). God created you to WORK! “In the beginning God created the heaven and earth” (Genesis 1:1-NIV), and God created everything there after that would replenish the earth in the cycle of life. God was working. When God made Man, the bible says “Let us make Mankind, in our likeness, so that they may rule over… [the earth] over all the creatures that move along the ground” (Genesis 1:26-NIV). Interesting point here is that Man was created just as the heaven and the earth was created. According to Google’s definition, to create something, simply means to bring into existence; to develop. The end of the scripture states that man was created “to rule (dominate) the land.” If we consider what has been taking place within the world for centuries, Man has abused their created purpose to rule by dominating people, causing oppression, when domination was only for creatures. Are you a creature?
According to the very first Google definition, a creature is an animal, distinct from a human being. It is my belief that as Man became sophisticated with our own understanding of life and movement, the second definition emerged, “an animal or person.” I do not think God sees us as creatures or God would have stated that God made creatures in the image of God and our identity would be animal. Instead God “… created Mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them” (Genesis 1:27); therefore, God does not even identify himself as a creature. Ha! But when God “created“, God was working; therefore, God is a God of labor. When He constructed the male and female, He constructed them to take over His initial CREATION, earth. If you are not working, you are not fulfilled.
Food for Thought: Whenever you create something YOU have to produce it, generate it, construct or build a “something” in order for it to be created; in order for it to exist, it has to come from somewhere inside of YOU. Sometimes this means you have to build from nothing, which causes for you to have to WORK your creativity! God was creative – look around you. The creativity God has, YOU have also! If God really believed in what He created (you and I – male and female) and entrusted us to manage earth, why are we not believing in ourselves to bring are unique gifts into existence? What seed are YOU carrying that is waiting for you to birth? How long have you been carrying your seed? Has your seed sat in the position of the picture below for some time now? If so, that can be pretty uncomfortable and deadly – to you and to your seed…
The seed is planted; now it has to grow and come from within you!
For the next 30 minutes, think only about what you have been carrying inside of you: that business venture you always seem to dwell on, the person you are striving to become that will change environments, the unfinished goals that lurk around your thoughts, the organization you want to create to benefit youth and families. Place your attention on the one thing you have always dreamed about; the one thing you keep running from; that next step you are afraid to take. Now sit back, press play, close your eyes, and imagine what taking that next step toward developing that seed looks like … 5 minutes… 10 minutes … 15 minutes… 20 minutes… 25 minutes… 30 minutes!
Welcome Back! What was your meditation like? What work were you doing?
Now that we have discussed why you were created – to WORK – and have begun to envision what your specific work looks like, let’s begin to explore what work God built in YOU, your GIFT(s) that is intended to help you with your work – because, if you are not working in your gifts, you are truly unfulfilled and you are not contributing your unique CREATION to the cycle of life. In the beginning of this post, I referred to Dr. Myles Munroe and his message on why men are under attack and need vision. Before we begin to unfold the concept of GIFT(s), I ask that you set aside two hours of private time to listen to this message for a more elaborate understanding of the concept of WORK and the role of male and female – take notes, ask questions, and connect what you hear to your own personal vision that you just meditated on for 30 minutes. Although the message is delivered to males’, the wisdom, knowledge, and biblical reference is worthy of undisturbed time and application to all Mankind. In my next post, we will begin deciphering your job and your work to therefore, unpack your skills to determine your personal GIFT(s). If you want to pose questions for debriefing, feel free to email me at drlbfuller@gmail.com, in the subject line type WORK!
Let’s talk!
Freud, S. (1930/1989). Civilization and its discontents. New York, NY: W.W. Norton.
Written by: Dr. Fuller
