An Audience of One

I was wondering this morning… Do you realize that God has placed you where you are for a purpose? In your job, your family, at the grocery store at 3:17 on a Thursday afternoon…  Have you ever thought to look around and say, “God, what do you want me to do here?”

Sometimes I forget to do that.  Let’s be honest… often I forget to do that.

I write for God. Well, let’s be honest here once again… I try to write for God. Sometimes the big ol’ ME gets in the way of the I AM. Me who thinks she can handle it, can do it all.  Me who think she’s got this thing and doesn’t need any help.

I hate when that happens.

Ever been there?

But what does it mean to write for God? To do anything at all for God? Well, my friend Ronie Kendig, said something on the ACFW loop a few years ago that clicked it all into place for me. She said it so beautifully then, that I asked her if I could share it on my blog, and I wanted to share it again today.  She’s talking about writing, but it could apply to anything we’re called to do, from mowing grass to building skyscrapers to preaching great sermons:

He wanted me to learn to write…simply because HE derives pleasure out of seeing me use the gift He gave. That’s it. Not because anyone else will be ministered to (although, I seriously hope so). Not because I’ll sell a bazillion copies (please, God?). But because when I write, He wanted me to know that it’s like He’s sitting in a cozy chair by a fire, listening to the clicking keyboard and just… smiling. Or like when I bought my sons new bikes and thrilled at watching them ride the bikes I gave them. God’s up there saying right now, “See? You see her typing and writing? She’s using the gift I gave her!”

Do you get it?  I had always envisioned writing for Him as writing for some unknown someone out there who would be blessed by Him speaking through me. But that would be writing for that unknown someone. Writing for God means, simply, writing for God.

I’m also reminded of something Cec Murphy said in a keynote at my very first writer’s conference, back in 2009.  He said, “Sometimes you write for an audience of millions, and sometimes you write for an audience of One.”  Both are a calling.  Sometimes we forget that.  We think that because we frame houses for a living, it’s not a ministry.  Because we wait tables, it’s not a God thing.  Because we sit behind a desk at a bank we don’t have a ministry.  Not true.  If you’re where God called you, you’re working for Him.  What’s our best for Him?  What does He want us doing/saying/being today?

It’s a reminder we all need.

-JB