If you haven’t taken time to dive into deep cyberspace in search of interesting animal facts, I highly suggest it on a day you’re avoiding your responsibilities. The outcome will leave you entertained, wowed, and in awe of the amazing God we serve. I find that God has a sense of humor not just in His word (check out His response to the disciples in Matthew 16), but also in His handiwork. The antics that animals undertake just to find a mate are grandiose, humorous, and intentionally designed.
By VANESSA Hairston
The individuality of God’s creatures gives us a window into His ridiculously intricate brain (if He even has one of those). For example, let’s consider the woodpecker. We all know that woodpeckers drill into trees with their beaks by making their head move back and forth quickly. Thanks to the movie Concussion, I learned that woodpeckers are actually designed to withstand that type of movement. Their tongue wraps around their brain to protect it from rattling. Intentional design. A gulper eel, a creature that lurks deep in the sea, has a jaw that will come unhinged to allow it to swallow prey much larger than itself. This is key in the deep sea because meals don’t come around that often. Again, intentional design.
Thanks to a sketchy Korean website, I learned that all of a shrimp’s vital organs are located in its thorax near its head. This is because that section of their body is covered with the thickest protective substances. Intentional design. The Bald Uakari monkey lacks pigment on its head, allowing the color of its blood vessels to show through. This blood-red color tells the group whether and individual is sick or in good health. Intentional design. If Jesus took this much care and focus for animals, how much more would He do for man who was created in His own image?
God is an individualistic God. He contains what every teacher wishes they had, omnipresence. He is not limited by time or space and can meet all our needs on our level. This also means He hand created us all. Not one person is the same just like not one snowflake is. From the tone of voice to the way we laugh, everything is unique and tailor made. This individuality extends from just our outer appearance and qualities to our desires; our talents.
Every person ticks a little bit differently, and Gardener expressed this as multiple intelligence. Some people are number smart, while others are music smart. Maybe you’re someone who really seems to understand people (people smart), or someone who really understands how to work with your hands (body smart). Most likely you have a mix of many different kinds of intelligence. You were purposefully created this way. God never haphazardly puts things together like we so often do.
He has created this concoction of talents and desires to serve a purpose that exceeds anything we could ever think or imagine. Just like a woodpecker is built to drill into trees, you are built to fulfill His purpose. But the key is getting out there and doing it. A woodpecker would be a pretty sorry one if it drilled into mud rather than wood. What a waste of talent! Why drill into something pliable when a solid Oak is waiting in the corner? Or what if it was too scared it would fail and didn’t try at all? It would never know that its body was literally built for what it was too scared to do.
Finding your purpose is no easy task and it often comes in waves. Even those people who were talking through their umbilical cord to their mother telling her what they wanted to do have different waves. There are several different components to finding your purpose and this article won’t be long enough to contain them all. The only two tips I will leave are these: seek God first, then do it. Many of us seem to stop at the seek God first thing.
There is nothing I hear more in small groups or church gatherings than people’s expressed desires of wanting to follow God’s will for their life. They want to do what He has called them to do and are praying about what direction that may be. Prayer is necessary. It lays the foundation of the way in which we should walk. But if we never take a step forward, the ground was laid for nothing.
What I’m trying to say is that your purpose isn’t just lassoed to your vocation or occupation. As my husband would say, “You can’t clock in and out of your purpose.” It isn’t boxed in a cubicle or removed along with your stethoscope. Your purpose is carried out in your everyday life. More than what you do, your purpose is who you are; who God has created you to be.
Perhaps He has oriented you to be a caring person who has a knack for building things. You’re not just a future contractor or builder, you are someone who is diligent, brave and willing to try things so you can learn. Every day is a chance to carry out your purpose in the way you live. Develop the characteristics you need to become the person who will live a purpose filled life. Then wrap that tongue around your head and get to work.