By Rev. Jarrett B. Washington, MDiv, MACE, Columnist
Lately, I find myself doing an entire inventory on every aspect of my life. The greater truth is I have been taking the necessary steps to recalibrate who I know myself to be to accelerate my results. I came to realize the very things I say about me are the very things that make me who I am both naturally and spiritually. Furthermore, even the way I describe the various aspects of my life bear witness to the way I navigate who I really am in God. As a believer, I stand on the word of God that life and death are in the power of the tongue, yet, it’s not always what the believer says that brings about life and death, but it also can be found in the things a believer thinks or reads.
One of the first truths I had to uncover was when I allow my eyes to navigate my future I confused my destiny. Four to five times a week I commute to our church, Hopewell AME Church, also known as, The House of Hope to conduct the on-the-ground work of ministry in the Georgetown and Williamsburg Counties of South Carolina. Most don’t realize the distance from my home to the church averages from 1 hour and 45 minutes to sometimes 2 hours in one direction.
Due to the distance and my need to be as proactive as possible, I always utilize navigation apps to get to the church. In all of my navigation apps, I have the church’s address listed as my “work address” and herein lies the issue. What I was reading as “work” was confusing my destiny. The truth is I do not “work” at a church, I have a “purpose” in a church. My perspective about where I was going had to undergo a change. I could no longer argue that I was driving to work, but that I was driving to purpose.
Perspective is not only your desire for something good to happen, but also your shifting from what you see to what you believe. Positively shifting your perspective, or in my case, language (and what I read), helps you to confidently move in the direction in which you are purposed to go. Purpose is all about where you thrive. Purpose is living. Purpose is breathing. Purpose is the idea that when you are in place you are already enough. Work is the antithesis to purpose. Anybody can work, but not everyone can operate in purpose.
Today I challenge you to shift your perspective on where you are going. How appropriate that in this season of graduations, promotions, and elevations that your mind would be fixated on purpose. Don’t just consider where you are, consider all the places you are going. I am a living witness that while you are reading this I am not headed to work, but I am positioning myself to operate in my purpose!
