What do you do? by Phil

Labor Day is fast approaching and that has me thinking. One of the common ice breaker questions in conversation is "What do you do?" This has always been particularly challenging for me to answer. My tax return says I'm a "Musical Evangelist," but I don't have a document that bestows that title on me - I made it up. Am I a singer? Yes. Am I a piano player? Yes. Am I a Minister of Music? I like to think so. But I'm also a woodworker, a graphic designer, a writer, a husband, a father, a student of scripture, a disciple of Jesus, and a pretty good cook, if I do say so myself. The more I thought about it, I began to believe that a better question might be "Who are you?"

As I thought of all the different aspects of how I spend my time at least in a work sense, I decided I'm a creator. Whether it's a new song, piano arrangement, devotional thought, graphic image or wooden piece, I take materials, knowledge and experience and mold them into something that hadn't previously existed. I create things! A normal person would have been satisfied to finally have an answer to "What do you do?", but my brain kept spinning and I wondered about my motivation to create. One of the reasons I don't write a lot of songs anymore is with the current state of recording and the music industry, I don't have a good outlet for my songs. I've never been satisfied to write a song that just sits in my laptop unheard. In the same way, I've never been a "garage" musician that just plays for the fun of playing. I do that some, but I'm usually working on something that will be played at a future event. I realized that I don't get satisfaction from just creating something new, it comes from someone else enjoying it. I post pictures of my latest woodworking projects on Facebook not to brag on my accomplishments, but to encourage other woodworkers and bring a little beauty to a platform that seems filled with negative opinions and ugly behavior.

So maybe a better question all around is, "Why did God put me on this earth?" What is my purpose? What excites and motivates me? I narrowed it down to this - I like to make other people's lives better. Whether it's a song that helps someone express their own feelings, a devotion that helps someone see God at work in their day-to-day life, a wooden creation that brings a smile or a joke that evokes a laugh, I am most energized when I can make someone's life more enjoyable, even if just for a brief moment. When I get down to the core, that's what I do. I try to make people's lives more livable.

This Labor Day weekend when you take a break from your work, it might be a good time for some inward reflection on your true motivation and purpose. You may find the mundane aspects of your work are more bearable when you see they are necessary steps toward your ultimate goal.

Or you could eat Bar-B-Que. That works too.
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Have a blessed break,
Phil and Pam

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