Built For Purpose

I had a drink with Steve last night. We talked about work, families, rising prices, church… Steve was wearing an Addidas T-shirt with ‘Built for Purpose’ on it. I mused on Steve – a fine figure of a man in his 50s – Built for Purpose? I smiled.

Musing on recent conversations…

…about family… the pre-teenage daughter who’s had to be grounded, the grandson who’s not attending school, the elderly father who needs visiting…

…about health… recent medication, hospital tests, life-restricting illness… heart surgery, anxiety and depression, dementia, cancer…

…about enjoying life… the next holiday, tonight’s party, a recent film, Saturday’s football, Christmas…

…about priorities rather than purpose… the practical requirements of the day… duties and responsibilities… just surviving…

‘Built for purpose’…?

Some friends, when asked questions about purpose, readily launch into the Westminster catechism of 1648:

What is the chief end of man? Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him forever.

(So this was the work of Parliament – at the time of civil war between King Charles 1, and Oliver Cromwell’s parliament… Charles 1 was executed in 1649.)

Other friends would take issue with any mention of God… as non-existent, irrelevant or impossible to understand… in discussions about life’s purpose.

Built for purpose?

Last week, watching ‘The Color Purple’, the final song:

Dear God, dear stars, dear trees, dear sky
Dear peoples, dear everything, dear God
God is inside me and everyone else
That was or ever will be

I came into this world with God
And when I finally looked inside, I found it
Just as close as my breath is to me…

Purpose linked to God being inside me…

…also in The Lion King: He lives in you, He lives in me, He watches over, Everything we see, Into the water, Into the truth, In your reflection, He lives in you…

Built for Purpose?

Musing… familiar Bible-pictures of God’s Spirit… breath, fire, dove, water, wind, cloud, wine… living in me… discerning and discovering purpose… today.