Life Theme

I taught my ninth grade students about short stories after our unit on the past tense. We read many short stories and attempted to summarize them (fail), listed characters and their traits, setting, point of view, and theme. The theme was always the hardest part to figure out. After that we wrote our own stories and had to identify each part in them.

This morning Jessica had an epiphany. "Sara! I found my 'thing'!" We had found mine and Krista's a long time ago, but Jessica's was more of a mystery. Her favorite Bible verses all have to do with God's plans for the future. "I know the plans I have for you, says ths Lord..." (Jer. 29:11) "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will direct your paths." (Proverbs 3:5,6) All of her favorite verses are about committing our way unto the Lord and how He has blessed us with talents and how He had great plans for us even before we were born. She needs to hear that. The sermons that she gives and the worship thoughts for her classes are about trusting that God is in control. She tries to control her life by planning and planning, but the way that God fulfills her the most is by reassuring her that she doesn't have to... and she actually can't. She doesn't know how.

My favorite verses are about God's undying love for us and how nothing can separate us from the love of God. "For I am convinced that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come... shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Romans 8:38-39). But I also absolutely love verses that talk about complete and utter devotion to God and to purposes and letting no shame or opposing opinion stand in your way. "They looked to Him and were radiant, and their faces were not ashamed" (Psalm 34:5). "For a day in Your courts is better than a thousand. I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of wickedness" (Psalm 84:10). "The Lord is on my side; I will not fear. What can man do to me?" (Psalm 118:6)

I have this deep resonating theme in my life that basically says, "I am not worthy, but You love me anyway, so I will give myself fully and completely to You. I will not let anyone else's opinion sway me or make me feel ashamed." That is the theme of my life. That is who I am. That is how I feel with God, and I have realized that that runs so deeply into every aspect of my life. It resonates in my relationships with my friends and the people that I am drawn to. It reflects the way that I treat the people that I care about and what I want from them. It speaks of what I want in the person that I will marry and what I will need to feel fulfilled in my future career. I talk to my students about God's everlasting love and how He doesn't care where we've fallen and He doesn't care about the past. I tell them to make up their minds about what they want. Do you want God or not? Let nothing stand in your way. If you want Him, mean it. Do what you need. "Do you not know that whom you present yourselves slave to obey, you are that one's slave whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righeousness?" (Romans 6:16) So speaks my theme: "I would get tired of myself, and I don't know why You still love me, so I will cherish our relationship and devote myself to You. You give me what I need and can find nowhere else, and I am grateful."

So we all have different paths and different goals and come from different experiences and walks of life (even if we have grown up in the same house), but our life themes are different and are the underlying motives for everything. They're the reason why some simple things make us happy that no one else understands or the why we feel sad for reasons we can't immediately identify. Certain friends and settings make us feel comfortable though others can't understand.

Read the Bible so you can better understand yourself. In learning more about the One who made you, your eyes will be opened and you will be free.