4. Choose a life verse and/or write a mission statement for my life and career.
At the beginning of the year, I wrote a post called Ten Adventures to Try in 2012. Last week I wrote about mission statements, and today I’m going to talk about how I came up with my life verse.
Coming up with a life verse seemed like a daunting task. I mean, the bible is thick! And it’s all good stuff. How could I narrow that whole book down to one or two verses and claim them as my mantra for life?
But choosing a life verse doesn’t mean I couldn’t read the rest of the bible! (Duh, Jill.) Nor would it mean that I couldn’t change my life verse if I wanted to. And I love the idea of having a verse that encourages me continually and reminds me who I am. With those thoughts in mind, I decided to give this a go.
I’m glad I decided to do this after having written out my mission statement because it gave me some insight to my character and life goals. I wanted to choose a verse that complimented my mission statement. So I started by looking up verses that contained keywords from my mission statement. But I also listed some of my favorite verses. And here’s the thing. At first, I couldn’t just keep it to one verse. I wanted to choose a life passage instead! But after thinking on it for a week, I realized I was doing the Jill thing of making everything more complicated than necessary.
So I went back to looking for one verse. The verse for my job was easier because I wanted it to say something about my calling as a writer. I chose Psalm 96:3. (Another thing that’s cool about this verse is that the address is in multiples of three, so it will always be easy to remember: 9, 6, 3!)
Psalm 96:3 “Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous deeds among all peoples.”
The King James version says, “Declare his glory among the heathen, his wonders among all people.” The word “heathen” gives the perspective that when the NIV says “nations” it’s talking about non believers. I try to write for believers and non believers, which doesn’t always work. 😛
But this verse really sums up why I started writing and why I still write today. I want to created books for teens that don’t ignore God’s existence. So, even though my books aren’t always loved–especially by those who don’t believe in God–they are true to my new mission statement and life verse. That gives me comfort and affirms what I’m doing. Nice!
For my life verse, I really wanted a verse that reminded me of who God is and what he desires from me at all times. “Love” was my answer, but I wanted something that I could read or recite in times of trouble (anger, jealousy, hurt) that would remind me instantly of God’s desires for my actions (or reactions).
My overall life verse: Romans 12:10 “Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves.”
I also really liked Galatians 5:6, Nehemiah 9:17, 1 John 4:16, Romans 5:5, and 1 John 2:6.
How about you? Do you have a life verse or passage? If so, what is it?
Over the last several years, Gal. 5:6(B) is my life verse. “The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.” To me it encapsulates how we are to live.
That’s a great verse, Sandra! Thanks for sharing it with me. It’s kind of similar to the one I ended up choosing, but I like that yours has the word “faith” in it.