From my mom…

Here’s what she sent:

Have you ever tried to use a lawn mower as a dishwasher? Yea, doesn’t really work that well. You put the dishes into the lawn mower and you turn the lawn mower on and . . . things go bad pretty quickly. You see, certain things have a certain purpose. And when we use something that has a certain purpose for something else, things tend to go wrong pretty quickly.

Our God is a God of purpose. He does things on purpose, with purpose, for purpose. He’s not sort of like, “Oh, just do this, we’ll just do that.” No, he’s a God of purpose, and he created human beings for a purpose, with a purpose. Working that out, working out who you are as a human being—something we all share—and who you are individually, is really, really important to living life to the fullest, to experiencing the incredible joy that God wants to fill our lives with.

One of the things I think most people can spend their whole lives ignoring or their whole lives and never really discover, is that human beings are made for mission. You and me, we’re made for mission. We’re not made to be served, we’re made to serve. And when we ignore that, at best, we get frustrated. At worst, we become really, really miserable. Because any time you use something for something that it wasn’t intended or something it wasn’t created for, then it’s like using a lawn mower as your dishwasher. It just isn’t going to work.

So you’re made for mission. You’re made for mission, and what does that mean? It means that God has placed you on this earth for some specific reason, for some specific mission, and he wants you to carry out that mission. I think when we think of that, we think, “Whoa, that’s heavy, that’s big. How am I going to work that out?” We work it out little by little. You work it out by taking the step that’s in front of you today. You work it out by realizing, “OK, how can I serve other people today, even in small ways?” And the more we serve other people, the more our mission becomes clearer to us.

Sometimes we’ll spend a year doing something or three years doing something, and we might even think that’s our mission. And then God will pull our life in a completely different direction. Ten years later we’ll realize, “Oh, God had me doing that other thing because he was preparing me through that for this other mission over here.” That’s how God works sometimes. Just take the next right step. Just do the next thing that you can do to serve other people.

You see, what I know for absolute certain is that when we get all caught up in ourselves and we turn inward, things go bad pretty quickly. There’s not much joy in that. We don’t find the happiness that God created for us in that. We find that happiness, we find that joy, by turning outward toward others and asking ourselves, “How can I serve the people around me powerfully today?” Because we’re made for mission. And the more we serve the people around us powerfully, the clearer that great mission God created us for will become.

So … running that through the translator yields ….

Have you ever tried to use a lawn mower as a dishwasher? Yea, doesn’t really work that well. You put the dishes into the lawn mower and you turn the lawn mower on and . . . things go bad pretty quickly. You see, certain things have a certain set of operational constraints. And when we use something that has a certain set of operational constraints for something else, things tend to go wrong pretty quickly.

Our universe is a universe of reality. It happens for real, with real causes, with real effects. It’s not sort of like, “Oh, just do this, the universe will just do that.” No, it’s a universe of reality, and the existence of human beings is real, with real effects. Working that out, working out who you are as a human being—something we all share—and who you are individually, is really, really important to living life to the fullest, to experiencing the incredible joy that the universe can fill our lives with.

One of the things I think most people can spend their whole lives ignoring or their whole lives and never really discover, is that human beings exist for each other. You and me, we exist within communities. We’re not in existence only to be acted upon, we exist to act. And when we ignore that, at best, we get frustrated. At worst, we become really, really miserable. Because any time you use something for something that it wasn’t optimal for or something it wasn’t constrained by facts to do, then it’s like using a lawn mower as your dishwasher. It just isn’t going to work.

So you’re made for community. You’re made for community, and what does that mean? It means that the universe exists in a state which has you on this earth in some specific set of conditions, in some specific community, and it is optimized when you participate fully in community. I think when we think of that, we think, “Whoa, that’s heavy, that’s big. How am I going to work that out?” We work it out little by little. You work it out by taking the step that’s in front of you today. You work it out by realizing, “OK, how can I serve other people today, even in small ways?” And the more we serve other people, the more our community becomes clearer to us.

Sometimes we’ll spend a year doing something or three years doing something, and we might even think that’s our community. And then the universe will pull our life in a completely different direction. Ten years later we’ll realize, “Oh, the universe had me doing that other thing which was preparing me through that for this other community over here.” That’s how the universe works sometimes. Just take the next right step. Just do the next thing that you can do to act in coordination with other people.

You see, what I know for absolute certain is that when we get all caught up in ourselves and we turn inward, things go bad pretty quickly. There’s not much joy in that. We don’t find the happiness that the universe holds for us in that. We find that happiness, we find that joy, by turning outward toward others and asking ourselves, “How can I act in harmony with the people around me powerfully today?” Because we’re made for community. And the more we act in harmony with the people around us powerfully, the clearer that great community the universe has available to us for will become.

Which, in summary says this: make other people and your community your priority, and avoid turning inward, and you will be happy.

I disagree. I say this: turn inward and learn your own truth, allow your community to be a part of this process, and you will be bound to them, them to you, and together you will find happiness.