life on purpose

my thoughts are jumbled. they are so numerous, it's difficult to sort them out and make sense of them. one word keeps coming in clear. purpose. other words follow closely. balance. grace. good words. words i need to hear.

God has been laying on my heart for the past few weeks a desire to live life with more focus, intention, and purpose. it's an interesting desire because it's not something i thought i lacked. but, sure enough, as the days and weeks and months have marched on, i look back and see the need for these things. in the way i clean our house. in the way i spend time with our kids. in the way i approach caring for our family. in the way i love others. in the way i read my Bible, serve my husband, pray, make dinner, and bathe little ones.

purpose (according to my dictionary.com app):

1. the reason for which something exists or is done, made, used
2. an intended or desired result; end; aim; goal
3. determination; resoluteness
4. the subject in hand; the point at issue
5. practical result, effect, or advantage
6. to intend; design
7. to resolve (to do something)

these words resonate with me. God made me personally to love goals, lists, accomplishing things, and setting out to accomplish things. it was no accident that God made me this way. in fact, it was on purpose. God has made us each with particular design.

purpose (according to our Creator God):

"So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. and God blessed them. and God said to them, 'Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth'." genesis 1:27-28
 

we are created to be image-bearers of God. that is our purpose. to reflect the One who gave us our very life and breath. He made us in his image and then gave the command to multiply, fill, subdue, and rule. He made us on purpose and with purpose and then gave us a command to purposefully carry out, as His image-bearers, on this earth.

Jesus, the Son of God, stepped into history as a man and lived a perfect life. and He lived on purpose.

"I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do." john 17:4
 

i want to live my life on purpose. i want to be intentional with time, love, money, rest, play, creativity, devotion, organization-- all aspects of life and in all that i am blessed with, i want to reflect Jesus, in whose image i was made, and live life on purpose.