POOF! I’ve just transported you back to 1999, and you’re sitting in a booth at a restaurant called Damon’s. This scraggly kid in uniform wanders up to the table next to you, introduces himself, and asks if he can get them started with some drinks or appetizers. Not particularly impressed with his air of culinary authority, they hem and haw until he busts it out: “I love to get the sampler platter because it gives me a nice portion of all Damon’s best stuff!”. They can’t resist, all the best stuff on one plate from someone who knows! And just like that, they’ve bought the most expensive appetizer on the menu.
Would you like a Sampler Platter with that?
I was that kid, and although I know you’re too smart to buy fried food from me, what the restaurant world calls “suggestive selling” works wonders for sales, and therefore for tips! Not necessarily by being manipulative (the sampler platter was full of Damon’s best stuff!) but rather by providing information to make a decision easier for someone. Believe it or not, so many people are willing to spring into action for causes even better than wings and potato skins; they just need someone to specifically and clearly suggest how!
Just like scraggly-server Jason, present-day me still finds that people I know are seldom lacking a desire to do (and eat) good; they just need someone to suggest ways to engage that are well-fit for them! Sometimes it’s hard to be proactive because we feel the time and resources to invest in a new endeavor just aren’t there. Or maybe the variety of options seems so overwhelming, we don’t know where to say yes or no. Fortunately though, there are great ways to experience the sampler platter of all you were meant to be involved in and do so regardless of how much time or money you have.
The most simple and satisfying method I’ve learned is what I have come to call “My Own Mission”. It’s a simple sheet of questions-see below-that are actually pretty fun to answer (they’re about you, after all!). They explore your talents, passions, experiences, and beliefs. Unlike typical personality tests, they don’t lead you to a category or rating system which is amusing but hard to practically apply. Instead, the final two questions lead you to glimpses of a day or week in your future life where every aspect of you is growing and fruitful. Glimpses of how you specifically would engage populations, causes, and types of work/service in the most effective and enjoyable ways you were made to, whether in your job, at home, or in your community. When every pursuit God created you for is able to advance, none of them are seen as a hindrance to you being fully you (Click to tweet). Wouldn’t that be nice!
I started doing My Own Mission in the busy years of medical school, when I had the least to offer. But continuously devoting even small amounts of time and resources then to each people group and cause God had been putting on my heart has allowed me now to be all of me in very fulfilling and fruitful ways! Check it out below. I hope it does the same for you, and I’m excited for what that looks like! 🙂
And to explore more about why God has created you specifically to engage the people and problems you were meant to, check out my free Healing Hereafter ebook series, particularly Booklet 5. Just two clicks away right here!
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My Own Mission
Use the following questions to help you discover who God has created you to be and what he has created you to do. They will lead you to a unique vision for your life that will bring an eternal context to the daily grind and give you godly goals to organize your life around.
Passions
1. Your to-do list is finished, you’re alone and well rested, and you’re in the middle of a week of vacation. What would be the two activities you’d most like to do?
2. What are two leisure activities that you would most not enjoy?
3. What two activities could you do all day long and not get sick of?
4. Share two activities that most often keep you from spending time with God.
5. What do your passions tell you about God’s will for your life?
Talents
1. Tell me two things you feel you’re good at.
2. Tell me two things you’re not good at (things you’ve honestly and repeatedly tried).
3. Tell me two things you think you could be good at but haven’t gotten to try.
4. Think of two things you are confident you’d be good at but haven’t been willing to try.
5. What are two things others have independently told you you’re gifted at?
6. What two things have people consistently communicated to you that you’re not good at?
7. What do your talents tell you about God’s will for your life?
Experiences
1. What are two important ways your education (formal or self-directed) has shaped you?
2. What are two unique good experiences from your past and how have they changed you?
3. What are two unique difficult experiences from your past and how have they changed you?
4. Give me two positive and two negative ways your upbringing has shaped you.
5. Give me two positive and two negative ways your friends have shaped you throughout your life.
6. What two things/situations are you most afraid of?
7. What are two things you’d change about your life if you could?
8. What do your experiences tell you about God’s will for your life?
Beliefs
1. Why do you believe what you do about God/Jesus?
2. Who influences what you believe the most?
3. If you ran into God on the street, how would you know it was him?
4. What do you think he’d want to say to you?
5. What would you most want to ask him?
6. What do your beliefs tell you about God’s will for your life?
Vision
1. If you could create any job(s) that perfectly suits who God created you to be using the above, what would it (they) look like?
2. One month from now and five years from now, based on the above information, how might each aspect of your life look (family, friends, career, church, hobbies, location/possessions) if you were fully pursuing the vision God created for you?
Although your vision may change as God teaches you more about yourself (keep updating it every now and then!), to get you closer to the goals of your vision, what can you do right now with your:
Time?
Resources?
Knowledge?
