Thursday, July 2, 2009


Are you 16?  36?  56?  76?  I haven't passed the final two mileposts, but I have gone by the first two.  And I can assure you that what is important to me now is radically different to me than what was important to me when I was in high school or college.

As we gather as a community this week, 
I would ask you to consider this question:
'What do you want from life?'

David answers the question this way in Psalm 27...
'The one thing I ask of the Lord--the thing I seek most--
is to dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life,
delighting in the Lord's perfections and meditating in His temple." 

As we contemplate our priorities this Sunday, it would be good to answer this question ahead of time...
What do you want from life?

2 comments:

taylor said...

ryan,
i dont know if you intended for us to respond here, or just have a response ready for sunday...but seeing as how i cant talk about what i'm having for dinner without crying...i thought i'd put this heavy subject here and you can read it if you want. that way i dont have to cry in front of everyone again...

what do i want from life? i feel like my answer here is selfish... i suppose if i'm honest with myself, what i want from life is to matter. i want to mean something to others. there are so many people in my life that i love and dont think i could do without...i fear that others would be okay without me. i want my life to be something meaningful. i want others to benefit from something i do. i am afraid that so far i have not lived that life.

i want a life i can be proud of. i want to stop making the same mistakes over and over. i want to figure out who i am and be that person. i want to stop being afraid. i want to trust easily again. i want to care about others more than myself...i want to believe that i can...

i want to stop doubting myself. i want to be able to talk about my emotions without crying all the freaking time!!

i just want to feel like i was meant for something...

Ryan Gibbons said...

I always want comments -- especially yours because they are from Taylor (who never used to make these comments)!!

I appreciate the sincerity of your response and love you because of that sincerity. And tears are always OK -- I have certainly just walked through a weepy phase of my life and can still get there quite easily!

I have no easy answers for you. There have certainly been times in my life where I felt I was achieving my deepest purposes and making a difference in people's lives.

Then there are times like the last few weeks, when people I had mentored and cared for and who had professed their love to me turned their backs on me and acted as if I never existed. Or never mattered. How do you reconcile those different seasons of your life?

I will be 40 this year and feel I have so little to say on these matters. I only really know that when Peter walked on the water, and began to sink, he cried out and Jesus lifted him up (though he did lecture him on his lack of faith). You are so important to our family and to this house church...I hope you know that above all else.