Dear Kaleid Ladies,
Good morning, and blessings on your Ash Wednesday.
Today we come simply, on this day in the church calendar that invites us to awareness of our humanity – its frailty and its worth.
We’ve been talking about purpose…how God made us for a purpose, how our purpose suffers because of sin, and how Spirit-led awareness reconnects us to our purpose.
Today we are all about simple activation of our purpose.
You have a purpose that looks just like you and only like you, living in love. Your purpose is your way of relating to God, others, and your city in the fullness of your unique humanness.
Reflect:
What is one thing you both do well and love doing?
Maybe it’s connecting to the question beneath the question that a friend is asking.
Maybe it’s taking risks on behalf of others.
Maybe it’s organizing a closet or your to-do list.
Maybe it’s bringing joy and sunshine to a group that needs a lighter load.
Maybe it’s writing a poem or cooking a meal.
Maybe it’s leading a strategic planning session or brand development meeting.
Maybe it’s carrying quiet encouragement to hidden places.
It could be (literally) anything.
Take a moment to get specific with yourself. What is one thing you both do well and love doing? We will call this today’s “one thing.”
Now, imagine your one thing from the perspective of a generous, third-party observer. Notice how unique it is for someone to both like doing that thing and have the ability to do it well. Notice how your one thing adds life, beauty, and value to the world.
Your one thing is part of your unique humanness. It is part of the way you fully love in the world, in a way that looks just like you and only like you. It is part of your God-given purpose.
Take another moment to brainstorm. What would it look like today to take your one thing into God’s world as an act of love? Could you love God, yourself, others, or your community in a specific way with that special thing you can offer today? What would it feel like to be aware that your one thing is actually God’s creative life, operating through you, activating image-of-God love in the world?
Today, we invite you to intentionally take your one thing to just one place. After you do, spend a few minutes reflecting on the purposeful connection you made with God’s ordinary, extra-ordinarily loving work in the world.
Conclude your time of reflection with this Scripture:
Ephesians 4:4-13 (The Message Version)
You were all called to travel on the same road and in the same direction, so stay together, both outwardly and inwardly. You have one Master, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who rules over all, works through all, and is present in all. Everything you are and think and do is permeated with Oneness.
But that doesn’t mean you should all look and speak and act the same. Out of the generosity of Christ, each of us is given his own gift. The text for this is,
He climbed the high mountain,
He captured the enemy and seized the plunder,
He handed it all out in gifts to the people.
Is it not true that the One who climbed up also climbed down, down to the valley of earth? And the One who climbed down is the One who climbed back up, up to highest heaven. He handed out gifts above and below, filled heaven with his gifts, filled earth with his gifts. He handed out gifts of apostle, prophet, evangelist, and pastor-teacher to train Christ’s followers in skilled servant work, working within Christ’s body, the church, until we’re all moving rhythmically and easily with each other, efficient and graceful in response to God’s Son, fully mature adults, fully developed within and without, fully alive like Christ.
We are so glad you’re you!
Gratefully,
The Kaleid Team
P.S. - We are so excited to be offering a StrengthsFinder workshop with certified coach Elizabeth Payne on Saturday, April 15th! Not only will we have a fantastic guide and an insightful tool to explore our God-given purpose, but we will also explore what it looks like to live out that purpose in our specific life context! AND, it’s a pay-as-you can experience, so please come and invite a friend or two!
AND, our Lent Contemplative Circle is now open for registration! Join us for seven weeks with Psalm 23, where we will pray together, discovering prayer postures for our Lenten journey. (Note – we pray together on Wednesday mornings at 6:30 or Thursdays at noon, but we will send YouTube videos of the prayer time each week, as well.) So, if you are not able to join us live at one of the two designated times, feel free to sign up so that you can receive each week’s video and follow along at a time convenient for you!