Well Intentioned Co-Worker...

Today I am baffled by the amount of thoughts running through my head. Where to start? I'll start with being completely honest.

Do you ever have those days where people keep asking you questions that annoy the heck out of you? Not because they are asking, but because of the answers you find yourself replying with?

I will give you scenarios...

• Well Intentioned Co-Worker: "Good morning Maddie! It's Friday! Woohoo! You doing anything fun this weekend?"
• Me: "Yea I am going to a Braves game...."

• Genuinely Interested Friend: "Well hello there MRS. RICHARDSON... How is the newlywed life treating you?"

• Me: "Amazing! I have pretty much just been working... I made an awesome dinner last night and then had to go to bed because of work the next morning..."

 

Now don't get me wrong. I love my life... more than that... I love the people I do life WITH. But I know I am missing something... I know that I was intended to live with more purpose.

If I was 100% honest about how I DREAM I could answer these questions... It would go something like this....

 • Well Intentioned Co-Worker: "Good morning Maddie! It's Friday! woohoo! You doing anything fun this weekend?"

• Me: "Yes! My husband and I have a full-flourishing garden, cow, and chickens that we live off of because we don't like to buy food that costs the environment billions of gallons of toxic damage from fuel a year... so we are taking care of that... OH YEA we also are picketing at the capital to lobby for legislation that will support the end of sex trafficking in my own city… and what else?.... oh YES! We are also prepping our RV for a little trip to North Carolina to camp and see the grandparents for the 4th of July holiday... Nature really allows us to rest and enjoy a little solitude with Jesus more than anything... What about you??

 

• Genuinely Interest Friend: "Well hello there MRS. RICHARDSON... How is the newlywed life treating you?"

• Me: "It is unbeleivable!! Last night we grilled out with a couple of our neighbors... and then headed to downtown EAV and had a few drinks with some friends. A lot of awesome conversation with some guys at the bar... Really blessed to be bringing the good news to a city and people we love so much. Then we came home, started planning our Europe vacation for next summer and ate some homemade ice-cream..." (i'm not sure where the ice-cream part came from...)

 

I want to be excited to tell people what I am going to be doing this weekend because it is something worth doing. I want to be excited to tell people what I did all day, rather than awkwardly shrug off questions about working a job that offers nothing valuable to the world other than a paycheck (and how valuable is that in the end?)

I hope this doesn’t all sound tragically negative… because in my heart of hearts I know it is the exact opposite.

Frustration produces valuable fruit.

Not loving where you are makes you go somewhere else.

Positive things.

I know that dinner at home or a Saturday Brave’s game aren’t the problem. They are GREAT things.

I also know that vegetables, livestock, an RV, or even homemade ice-cream won’t scratch the itch in my heart.

I don’t think that finding a new “job” will really satisfy my hunger for adventure.

So thanks to my co-worker, I am going to knock on the heart of God and ask for Him to let me into what he is doing… and then bit by bit I am going to let purpose seep into every daily task, every decision made, every dollar spent… every braves game… every dinner at our home…

 “Don’t let anyone think less of you because you are young. Be an example to all believers in what you say, in the way you live, in your love, your faith, and your purity.” 1 Timothy