Chaplain’s Column

Live on Purpose

Wow! We are already well into the first month of 2020. How are your resolutions, goals or plans, holding up so far? I recently saw a sign in an ice cream shop that read, “Breaking New Year’s resolutions since the 1960’s.”

So much of our lives are spent reacting to things that happen to us or around us.

It is amazing how often our reactionary decisions to circumstances in life create habits that begin to shape and define our days.

Days turn to weeks, weeks to months, and months to years and now we have created a way of life.

After a while, we quit asking why we do so many of the things we do. It reminds me of a story I once read.

A little girl asked her mother one Sunday morning as she was preparing lunch, “Mommy, why do you cut off the ends of the ham before you cook it?”

The girl’s mother turned and looked at her and said, “Oh, sweetie, I’m not really sure why, but I suppose you cut the ends off of the meat so that the meat can better absorb the juices and spices and make it more tender. Maybe you’d better ask Grandmama since she was the one I learned it from. She always did it that way.”

The little girl called her grandmother later that day on the phone and asked her the same question, “Grandmama, why do you cut the ends off of the ham before you cook it?”

The little girl’s grandmother responded, “Oh, sweetie, I’m not really sure. I think it is so that the juices will be absorbed better. Call your Nana. She is who I learned it from.”

The little girl began to get a bit frustrated with the whole idea, but decided to call her great-grandmother anyway. “Nana, mom was preparing lunch the other day and she cut the ends off of the ham before she cooked it. I asked her why and she said that she did it because the juices would absorb better, which makes it more tender. She told me to ask Grand-mama to make sure, since she learned it from her,” the girl told her Nana.

“Well, I called Grandmama and she said the same thing about the juices and all, but that she learned it from you and I should ask you. Nana, why do you cut the ends off of the ham before you cook it?”

There was a pregnant pause in the conversation and then the little girl heard what sounded like muffled laughter coming from the other end of the line. “What’s so funny, Nana?” the girl asked. “Oh, sweetie, I cut the ends off of the ham before I cooked it because my pan was too small!”

As we begin this new year and a new decade, use this as an opportunity to evaluate your life and ask that great question, “What is my purpose in life?” Ask the “why” to some of those choices you are making.

I believe God created you for a purpose. So live everyday with intentionality. The Apostle Paul wrote, “So I run with purpose in every step…” (1 Corinthians 9:26 NLT)

God’s desire for us is that we would live lives of purpose. Let us be intentional about the choices we make and the life we live. Do not spend all your time in a reactionary mode.

You were made for a purpose! Be intentional! Live every day with purpose!