Fit Bit, for your soul

Here’s another kudos and hats-off to Hollywood (yes, I actually do like some of their stuff).  I’m remembering the movie that came out many years ago called Mr. Holland’s Opus, and if you haven’t seen it, do.  Without spoilers, the storyline chronicles the young would-be professional musician who opts to teach high school band class while he works away on his dream job.

And, akin to most of us, life happens.

But surprisingly, something else transpires in the midst those life events.  Through his decisions to put first things first, purposefully setting his priorities on other than himself, his life and career are enriched in ways he never imagined. 

There.  I’ll leave it at that, since it’s enough to get where I want to go next—

There has been a push in our recent culture telling us to find where we “fit”, go after our dreams, all that.  Certainly, it is wise to research, not only different career paths, but to also research ourselves, our inborn wiring in the form of our natural capabilities, desires, the ways in which we are “bent”. 

What about our duties?  The career path we chose at 18 (and c’mon, really?) may not turn out to be what we had in mind when we are, say, 30.  Somehow, it doesn’t “fit”, or better yet, I don’t “fit” within it.  By then, however, what about those who are counting on us to provide? What about the concept of responsible adulthood?

There was a famine (again), and this time it was Abraham’s son, Isaac, and family facing the unpleasant prospects before them.  They could escape to supposedly greener pastures, but that’s not what God had in mind:

 “The LORD appeared to Isaac and said, ‘Do not go down to Egypt, but do as I tell you. Live here as a foreigner in this land, and I will be with you and bless you. I hereby confirm that I will give all these lands to you and your descendants, just as I solemnly promised Abraham, your father…. And through your descendants all the nations of the earth will be blessed.’”

You may feel like your soul is starving where you are, like you’re a foreigner and a mis-fit, and love for those who need you holds you there.  Sometimes obeying God means staying in a seemingly ill-fitting place.  But something wonderful can begin to happen.  Our obedience to His higher calling, that is, putting those He has given me before my personal aspirations, allows Him to a) change me more into His image and b) bless those around me.

And you’d be in good company.  After all, it was Love that held Jesus to the cross.

Genesis 26:2-4 Bible. New Living Translation copyright© 1996, 2004, 2007, 2013 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.