“I was made to do this.”

When was the last time you said that? When did you feel that way as a kid?

When you read your life backwards what blueprint emerges from your youth or childhood? What passions and aptitudes made you feel the most alive? Were you happiest when you were writing, painting, talking, thinking, or studying astronomy? Did you come alive when you were giving advice, performing in front of your peers, or babysitting younger children?

Those childhood attributes were quite possibly predicting your adult distinctives.

William Wordsworth wrote, “The child is the father of the man.” In other words, our childhood interests—the things that made us feel like us—were forecasters of our adult abilities.

Just as Moses, Paul, and Billy Graham each possessed a youthful zeal that predicted their future callings, so your adolescent passions have predicted yours.

As we wage war against the common life this summer, let’s spend a few minutes remembering those times when we felt “made to do” whatever it was that we were doing. Perhaps God has a message for us in that memory.

As Lucado stated, “The oak indwells the acorn. Read your life backward and check your supplies. Re-relish your moments of success and satisfaction. For in the merger of the two, you find your uniqueness.”[1]

Grace Church summer reading program, The Cure for the Common Life, Chapter Three: “Read your life backward.”

[1] Max Lucado, The Cure for the Common Life, Thomas Nelson Publishing, 2005, 29.