Jerry Lile, CEO of Fairmount Homes and MHS Board Member, shares a devotional exploring God’s calling on his life.
Parker J Palmer, Let Your Life Speak: Listening for the Voice of Vocation
Listening to Life: Ask Me
Ask me whether what I have done is my life. Others have come in their slow way into my thought, and some have tried to help or to hurt; ask me what difference their strongest love or hate has made. I will listen to what you say. —William Stafford
Parker explains, “‘Ask me whether what I have done is my life.’ For some, those words will be nonsense, nothing more than a poet’s loose way with language and logic. Of course, what I have done is my life! To what am I supposed to compare it? But for others, the poet’s words will be precise, piercing, and disquieting. They remind me of moments when it is clear—if I have eyes to see—that the life I am living is not the same as the life that wants to live in me. In those moments I sometimes catch a glimpse of my true life, a life hidden like the river beneath the ice. And in the spirit of the poet, I wonder: What am I meant to do? Who am I meant to be?”
Reading this book made me start questioning my life and asking if I am truly where God wants me to be. I think most of us, at some point, have questioned whether our work is still fulfilling and if we are still in the right organization, especially during COVID. Maybe because I am another year older, with a birthday a few months ago, or maybe God is challenging me to look deep inside and question whether or not I am living the life God intended for me. But then I am reminded in Philippians 4:8-9, in the Message: “Summing it all up, friends, I’d say you’ll do best by filling your minds and meditating on things true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious-the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not things to curse. Put into practice what you learned from me, what you heard and saw and realized. Do that, and God, who makes everything work together, will work you into his most excellent harmonies.”
So, what have I learned or seen?
-I have learned that Jesus loves me unconditionally.
-I have seen caregivers hold hands and sing to the sick and dying.
-I have witnessed numerous team members sleeping on air mattresses during a winter storm.
-I have learned to love the Lord my God with all my heart, with all my soul, and with all my mind and to love my neighbor as myself.
I have learned and seen much more, but Philippians 4 reminds me again that I will have peace wherever I may be, as long as I follow the words of God and His teachings. So, if you find yourself questioning life, I encourage you to read ‘Let Your Life Speak’ by Parker Palmer and reflect on Philippians 4.
Jerry Lile, CEO of Fairmount Homes; MHS Board Member
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