Drill Down

For your consideration…

Today’s message is timely and important. It was interesting the examples that I was given to explain it. One was funny and light-hearted. The other quite serious and heavy.

We all want to know “why” we are here. What is our “life purpose?” How do we figure it out? How do we know if we are doing the right things?

The short answer is we ask? The longer answer is we “ask the right questions and drill down on them.”

The light-hearted example I was given was an event that happened just a couple of days ago. I had a cute little boy (we’ll call him T) who just turned 5 in my class. Another boy (we’ll call him A) came to me and showed my his arm and said that T had bitten him. I called T over and asked did you bite A? He looks straight into my eyes with his beautiful little gold ones and quietly says “No.” He totally lied, of course because that was totally the wrong question to ask a 5-year-old when you know the answer. So I asked him the correct question, “Why did you bite A?” He answered, “Because A hit me in the eye.”

Most little ones are pretty good at reading body language and hearing tones of voice. They rely on these skills to make up for things they my not understand. T was totally got that I called him over because I was unhappy with him. So he totally lied when I was not definitive with the “did you” question. When I was specific, he owned up to it. This is totally normal with little ones.

So the first part of our message reminds us to ask the right questions.

The heavier example came yesterday. I was meeting with friend for lunch. She retired at the end of the last school year. As excited as we are for retirement, it still comes with some challenges. In her case, her father passed so she is just now really starting to settle in and figure out how she wants her life to go. Of course, there is the completely normal self that says, “I am totally wasting so much time. I am not getting stuff done.” It is hard to not beat ourselves up and give ourselves a hug and a “that’s ok.” We don’t have to fill in every minute like we did when we worked every day.

But the even bigger part is figuring out working our life purpose fits into our life. My friend’s book club read Sensible Shoes by Sharon Garlough Brown. In the book it there were example of how to find what is really important to you….how to drill down.

That is the second part of today’s message. After we ask the right question, we drill down on the answer with more right questions and more drilling down until we reach clarity.

The answers we seek are there for us if we are diligent and committed to finding them.

That is the HOPE. And so it is.

Bit by bit, piece by piece, HOPE by HOPE action steps anyone can take…

-Affirm…“I am loved.”

-Meditate/pray…ask…”What is my next step for my highest good and the highest good of all?”

-Get outdoors and take in at least 10 deep breaths.

-Drink lots of water.

-Drill down.

What made me smile yesterday…

-First thing Bruce says is, “Chris, we have to get some Halloween candy.” “I already have it.” I replied. “Oh, where is it?” “I have it hidden.” I tell him. He starts laughing, “Oh boy, it must be KitKats.”

-Lunch with Debra.

-My house cleaner came today.

-A cooking class. I will definitely make this menu. Everything was delicious and I had some friends were in this class.

-Alex may get to come home for an extended time after-all.

Love, Blessings and Gratitude,

Rev. Chris