Finding Meaning in Making Lattes and Selling Diamonds

Lately Tim and I have found ourselves in the cycle of work, eat, sleep, eat, work, eat, sleep…and very quickly it can get terribly mundane. We know firsthand how incredibly difficult it can be to find work right now, and because of that we are very grateful to both have jobs. But sometimes it’s hard for us to see why it is I’m helping to caffeinate Seattle and why Tim is helping to add some bling to the world. In our conversations we keep coming back to our desire for something more, for our work and life to add up to something meaningful. The prayer I wrote down and placed on our bathroom mirror a couple weeks ago comes from Praying With the Psalms, “We need you, O God. We cannot sustain meaning and purpose by ourselves. We don’t have within us the stuff to make life whole. We run out of resources. We run out of strength. In our emptiness we wait for your fullness. Fill us with life anew.” When I see these words each day it is a reminder that my meaning and purpose comes from the Lord, not from my work or any of my own efforts. Even in writing this now, it’s as if a new wave of that realization is hitting me. My desire for this season of life is not to be discontent with where we are right now (something I’m continually struggling with), but to be seeking the meaning and purpose even in the mundane. Even though I’d rather every day of my life be filled with new challenges, and something I love doing, I also have to be reminded that there’s a time for rest, a time for training, and a time for preparing for our next steps. It seems to us as if we’re being prepared for something we’re not aware of quite yet. We’re wrestling with our own desires for the future – to live in Latin America, to do ministry together, to fuse our passion for art and photography with our care for people through counseling. I was once told by Hule Goddard to “expect a long runway” regarding my desire to be used in overseas ministry – meaning I didn’t have to fly before I was ready. Instead of pressuring myself to get married and move overseas immediately, Hule shared the analogy of a long runway as a time of preparation and allowing God to ready Tim and I for whatever he has for us, be it overseas ministry or something else. So here we are in Seattle, doing life – the mundane and the not so mundane – and seeking to find joy in each day.

These photos are a preview of a post to come :)