LIving "On Purpose" in the Doldrums of Life

It is an interesting time of year - when graduations are coming to a close - vacations are beginning to gear up - students are leaving for home and for summer Christian programs and mission trips - and the rest of us are getting ready to move into summer.  It can be a time when we can lose focus spiritually.  The vast majority of us thrive on structure in our lives - and it is times like these when our normal structure in life can break down or begin to change.  The reason this affects our spiritual lives is because, if you are like me, part of my structure in living is my quiet time.  Even this can be affected with the result that we can experience a kind of spiritual doldrum period at this time of year. Doldrums were the areas in the ocean where there would be little or no wind to power the sails of a ship. It was during those times that a ship had to have its routines - so that it would be ready to continue its journey when the wind would return. One of the most important things to be done in doldrums would be to maintain the proper heading and direction. If the sailors did not do this the ship would drift aimlessly off course during this time.  In a similar manner it is important for us to have our spiritual disciplines so that when spiritual doldrums hit, we will be doing things to keep us growing and make us ready to take full advantage of other times when the winds of the Spirit pick up again and create fresh passion in what we do. Having these disicplines in place helps us not to drift aimlessly for weeks at a time and wind up badly off course in our walk with God.  In an effort to help us avoid this, I would like to encourage that we do a few things.

First, let me offer a word of exhortation.  A lot of us have a tendency to grow in our spiritual lives more out of passion than out of purpose.  I am not against passion in spiritual growth, but it is not an effective long-term motivation for spiritual growth in your life.  What I mean by this is that passion comes and goes but what lasts is commitment.  Whereas we may have several times a year when we have a great passion to have a quiet time and to minister to others - the problem comes when these spiritually passionate moments subside and we are left with what we are committed to in life.  You will burn out if all you function by is passion and emotion alone. There has to be commitment or purpose to take over at some point to have balanced spiritual growth.

It is a very important thing to make time to write down your purpose in life.  Some may groan at this statement - but when the doldrums hit this will be invaluable to you.  It is during those times that you can revisit that statement to give you long-term motivation in walking with the Lord.  What is even more helpful is to write out what things you should be doing daily to accomplish your ultimate purpose in life.  A GPS can show you where you will wind up when you arrive at your destination - but it functions by giving you turn by turn directions to get there. We need this to help us with those "choice by choice" directions to get us to our ultimate goal.

When doldrums hit in my life - I am reminded that my goal in life is to, "Love the Lord my God with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength, and to glorify Him by how I live in my marriage, family, church, and community."  This is true whether I have great passion or not. Then I am reminded of my turn by turn directions to get there. These are building blocks to "love the Lord" and to "glorify Him in all I do." Therefore to accomplish this I have committed to have a daily time alone with God where I talk to Him and read His Word  - i.e. maintain a regular quiet time.  I have also committed to love and lead my wife and children with daily practical acts of kindness and service.  A couple of other building blocks are to make sure Calvary Chapel of Jonesboro is the best loved and taught congregation in our city - and - that I am working to build men as disciples of Jesus Christ.  

It is these things that keep me on track in the "doldrum times of life."  In an effort to help me know exactly what to do - I've broken these down further into smaller things I try to do - so that even when I am "down and out" I still know things I should be doing to accomplish goals and live for God's overall purpose in the life He has given me. Let me give a couple of examples. To mainitain my time with the Lord, I will read my Bible daily - reading 5 chpaters in the Old Testament, a psalm or a proverb, and 1 chapter in the New Testament. Recently, I've also committed to praying through a Psalm each day - to help me not degenerate into a rote list of prayer requests. There are other ways to break down the other commitments in my life. Things I can see and know whether I am doing the right things or not. Therefore when things slow down and I can lose my focus - I know that I can read these things and know how to not just survive doldrums - but even thrive in them.  May God give all of us grace to thrive, not only in times of passion, but also in every other period of life as we strive to live "on purpose."