Your Shepherd Season

It’s another Thursday morning. Maybe you’re listening to, or reading, these words as you get ready for work.

Maybe you’re on the road, frantically sipping a cup of coffee. Maybe it’s at the end of an exhausting day. I bet there have been moments throughout your day where you sighed and thought, “I just wish I could do nothing.”

I was chatting with a friend a few weeks ago who happens to be a middle school teacher – which is arguably the most difficult job ever! After a long day at work she chuckled to me, “I wish I could get paid to do nothing.” Sign me up for that job!

Often in the hustle and bustle of life – from work to kids to marriage to church to cleaning the house – we can just wish we had more free time. Or more freedom in general! Too many mornings we wake up and dread the day, wishing there was no boss telling us what to do, no Google Calendar dictating every second, no alarm clock forcing us out of bed too early.

But while it feels like this epidemic of dissatisfaction would be cured with an endless summer of nothing to do, I would argue that more freedom isn’t really the cure. It’s more purpose.

Because in reality, a thriving life doesn’t look like nothingness. It looks like fulfilling a calling and living on purpose. We both know that too much freedom quickly becomes a bad thing. But purpose? That is what fuels the life of a Go First leader.

I think of David, the noble King in the Old Testament who started off as a humble shepherd. He was the youngest of a large family, overlooked, and doing the job of a servant.

And yet he never doubted that the less than desirable season he was in was preparing him for something greater.

When he finally had the chance to do something great, and offered to fight the Philistine giant threatening his people, his training as a shepherd prepared him for God’s surprising calling:

David said to Saul, “Let no one lose heart on account of this Philistine; your servant will go and fight him.” Saul replied, “You are not able to go out against this Philistine and fight him; you are only a young man, and he has been a warrior from his youth.” But David said to Saul, “Your servant has been keeping his father’s sheep. When a lion or a bear came and carried off a sheep from the flock, I went after it, struck it and rescued the sheep from its mouth. When it turned on me, I seized it by its hair, struck it and killed it… The Lord who rescued me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will rescue me from the hand of this Philistine.

- 1 Samuel 17:32-37

David could have easily spent his time as a shepherd hating his life and just wishing he could do nothing. But instead, he lived life on purpose and saw his present circumstance as future preparation. It ultimately led him to not only sleigh a giant, but eventually become a king!

I don’t know what present circumstance makes you long for the weekend and wish you had more freedom.

But maybe your shepherd moment is leading you to something greater.

Maybe that full calendar and the stressful project and the time-consuming house tasks are all God’s method of training you for the incredible plans He has for you. Don’t just beg Him for freedom, ask Him to help you look for purpose in every minute of your day.

When you’re picking up your kids from school: God what’s the purpose in this? Where can I go first?

When you’re swamped with another work task: God what’s the purpose in this? Where can I go first?

Instead of worshiping freedom, start seeking God’s preparation and purpose in every season of your life.

Cristina  Schmitter