Recently, I have had to really think about what I want for my future. What are my needs, but also what are my passions? What does God want me to do? I’m just trying to hear the voice of God, but it’s really difficult to hear God’s voice when the voices of the world start creeping in. It’s hard to drown out everything and focus in on what you need to hear.
The main thing that I have been hearing from other people really saddens me. It makes my heart hurt that people think they have to settle for the rest of their lives.
“It’s time to be an adult, Hannah.”
“It’s time to be responsible.”
“Sometimes adulting means you have to do things you don’t like to do.”
Why does being an adult mean I have to do things I don’t want to do? What is the actual definition of being an adult? The dictionary says that being an adult means to be grown up and mature.
The definition of maturity is to “be in full bloom”. So what makes a person in full bloom? What I’ve learned is that in order for us to fully bloom into the person God has created us to be, we have to run after the passions that he has put in our hearts. If God put the desire in my heart to work full time in a different country, but instead I work at a bank because it would make me more money, I’m actually not blooming to my full potential, which means I’m not being mature, which means I’m not being an adult.
So my questions are, when did it become normal to tell our children that they need to go to college and become a doctor and make money even if that’s not their passion. When did following your passions and following the Lord become irresponsible? When did money become more important than happiness?
I’m sorry if this is totally against what the world says, but I went to college for 4 years with a degree in Kinesiology and that’s not what I want for my life at all. I wish someone told me to travel and figure out what the Lord wanted for my life first instead of telling me that I need to go to college right after high school. Maybe the Lord IS telling you to be a nurse, or a banker, or a librarian or a lawyer in order to reach your full potential, but you won’t know unless you really search for what you’re passionate about in life.
Yes, it’s responsible to get car insurance and health insurance and to get your own apartment. But what if my desire is to help orphan children in Africa? Then what? I just have to give that up because that’s not what a responsible adult would do?
Instead of telling people to be adults and get a job working somewhere they don’t want to work and end up getting stuck, why don’t we support each other in trying to figure out what we want to do in life? And if that means giving $100 to someone who needs to fundraise to do what they are passionate about and what God is calling them to do in life, why don’t we do that?
If your goal is to make someone happy, why are we telling them to do things that will end up making them miserable just because that’s what adults need to do?
I don’t know about you, but I would rather be doing something I love and be broke, than doing something I hate and be rich. To me, the responsible and adult thing to do is to help out our family and our friends and our neighbors find what they are passionate about. Isn’t that what the Bible says? “And you must love your neighbor as well as you love yourself.” Luke 10:27.
Maybe that’s where we are going wrong. Maybe we aren’t loving ourselves well because we are afraid to be a little different than what the world thinks. It’s not selfish to think about your own passions and desires from the Lord. It’s not selfish to act on those. It says love your neighbor AS WELL AS YOU LOVE YOURSELF. We can’t love our neighbors well if we aren’t loving ourselves well. Take a minute or a week or a year and find out what God wants you to do with your life before listening to what everyone else thinks.
In the end, if the world’s definition of being an adult means I have to give up my happiness and my life and my zeal, I’m sorry, but I don’t want any part of it. You can call me a child for the rest of my life, but at least I’m happy in the arms of my Father who told me it’s ok to run after my passions even if that means I may have to fundraise once in a while or even if that means I have to look like a fool to the world.
“But God chose those whom the world considers foolish to shame those who think they are wise, and God chose the puny and powerless to shame the high and mighty. He chose the lowly, the laughable in the world’s eyes—nobodies—so that he would shame the somebodies. For he chose what is regarded as insignificant in order to supersede what is regarded as prominent, so that there would be no place for prideful boasting in God’s presence. For it is not from man that we draw our life but from God as we are being joined to Jesus, the Anointed One. And now he is our God-given wisdom, our virtue, our holiness, and our redemption.”
1 Corinthians 1:27-30 TPT
I’m ready to follow God and not man. Even if it seems like the most foolish thing in the world. So call me a fool or call me joyful, it’s one in the same.
