The Truth About Your Design
The Truth about your design is simple.
It’s not up to you. You can demand it be up to you, and you can do your own thing, but that doesn’t change the truth about your design. It just means you are acting in a way contrary to your design.
The only time your path lies outside your design is when the Master determines it. So, when is a pitcher something other than a pitcher? When the Master says it is (or when playing Banana Ball, but that’s a whole different can of worms).
When I create something, no matter what you think of it, it is what I say I created it to be.
It’s that simple.
Or it should be.
Too many times, I have created something and turned to someone else, someone who wasn’t part of the crafting in the first place and asked for their opinion. Instead of giving me feedback on what I had created, they chose to change the conversation completely or to try and force my design into a mold of their making. And I followed them because they knew better.
When my son was younger, I could go to him and ask what he thought about an outfit. He usually asked what event I was going to or what I was aiming for in the look. Then he might suggest I change shoes or jewelry or add a belt. He knew what I was doing, and he provided feedback to help me improve my goal.
When I got ready to publish my first book, an editor told me to change everything. I’m not exaggerating here – although I know I’m prone to it. I needed to change the voice, the concept, and even my name. Okay, that last one was an exaggeration.
What I had written didn’t align with what she expected or had been reading in the market. She never asked what my goal was or what my expectations were for what I was creating. She told me to shift to what she wanted.
The last several years have helped me to see that their way of doing things hasn’t worked out for me so far. I know I need to do something, but the moment I start doing my something someone comes along and tells me to get back into the rut that hasn’t worked for me so far.
It’s frustrating. It’s exhausting. And it’s a cycle I’ve repeated so many times at this point that I’m pretty sure I know it by heart . . . and still do it!
Yesterday, I read in Henry Blackaby’s Experiencing God study that I am not called to do something for God. I am called to be molded and directed by God to join Him in His work.
In other words, I’m supposed to be what I was created to be and not what the people around me are telling me to be or to do.
In this noisy world, surrounded by smart and demanding people, it’s not easy to be something that most of them deem impractical.
Many, many years ago, my mother purchased a rooting vase. When she passed away in 2012, I brought that rooting vase home and continued to root house plants in it. This morning, I was thinking about what it is and how it looks and how my mother and I use it.
Knowing Your Purpose
“What is this?” I asked my husband.
To his credit, he knew it was a trap. He just didn’t know what kind of trap. He proceeded with delicate caution. “Um, a gravy bowl?”
Fair enough. I have a lot of strangely shaped gravy bowls around the kitchen. If hospitality is a superpower, I got a good dose of it when I was born.
“What if I told you it was a rooting vase?”
Again, he was leery to respond. “Okay?”
And then I explained that it was a rooting vase because my mom bought it to be a rooting vase, and I used it as a rooting vase. It didn’t matter what it looked like or what other people labeled it because, according to the owner (the Master), it was a rooting vase.
I didn’t ask the rooting vase what it was supposed to be. I determined what it was – or in truth my mom determined when she acquired it.
I didn’t ask anyone else what it was (okay, I asked my husband, but we’ve already established that was a trick question). I determined it was a rooting vase and used it for that purpose.
Finding the Truth About Your Design
Pst . . . I have a secret. I’m not you.
And guess what? You aren’t me.
The best news is that we aren’t supposed to be like anyone else. We are supposed to learn from others, but then we are supposed to do things our unique way.
You will boldly go in your unique way once you unlock the truth about your design.
- Your design is something that has always been there and will always be there. It’s not something you learn in school or even something you inherited from your parents. It is a seed planted in you at the beginning of time. (check out Jeremiah 1:5).
- Your design doesn’t change. How your design is utilized by the Maker may change, but the essence of you will always be the essence of you. (and remember, this is the essence that was planted by the Maker, not the mess stirred up by the world).
- The truth of your design will lead to peace and joy and life exceedingly abundant because God is a good Father who wants to pour blessings over His children. (the issues come when we stop following the Maker’s Way and demand our own way).
Stop Waiting for Others
You have your unique design. Most of the time, deep in the heart, you feel that design – or at least some of the elements of that design. Trust your Master, the one that made you like you are. Lean into the unique design. Dare to be all that you were called to be.
