Beyond my mother, I have three key girls in my life – my two daughters and my wife. All three of them love animals. I don’t mind animals… They love them. I can like your animal… I’m not necessarily wanting one of my own. For my three girls, life is not complete unless someone else’s animal becomes theirs.
This is the thing about an animal (rabbit, turtle, dog, cat, gerbil, hermit crab, guinea pig,…) they don’t have to do anything. Apparently it is enough for them just to exist and look cute in the process. I mean how much personality can a fish have?
You are different. You have a reason for being.
I must admit, to a limited degree, all animals have a reason for being. For our two dogs, apparently it is so that our steam cleaner can get regular use.
But you are not a generic animal with a generic purpose. You have a profound and specific reason for being. No animal will ever be critiqued by God for whether it fulfilled its purpose. You and I will be.
The CEO of the Red Cross and the guy living under a bridge in southern Florida – both were created with great value and both will be doing something today. But today, both will not being living out their highest purpose.
Without unique purpose, the word priority carries no weight.
Without purpose there is no difference between focus and distraction.
You have an internal gauge that is evaluating how in sync your life is with its reason for being. Pause to read the gauge.
P.S. – No, I don’t dislike animals. I just struggle with the ones that pee on my carpet.
And while I fairly regularly play with our dogs, don’t tell my girls – it will ruin my image.