LIVING ROOM MEMORIES  40 

(January 25, 2007)

I’m excited about the meeting our Living Room group is having tomorrow! We’ll be starting a four-session series of discussions: A spiritual journey to discover what we’re here for.

Whoever is interested in joining the journey (I suspect it will be everyone in the group) will be reading a chapter a day of Rick Warren’s Purpose Driven Life. Then, each meeting we’ll get together and compare notes on what we’re discovering – what we’re learning about the purpose of our lives.

There was a time in my life when I used to hear the words to the old Peggy Lee song repeating themselves in my head: “Is that all there is? Is that all there is?” There didn’t seem to be much point to my life. But things have changed. I have found a purpose – actually, a whole family of purposes. My life has meaning. I love getting up in the morning; there’s so much I enjoy doing.

I think that having a strong sense of purpose for my life – knowing what God made me to do – helps keep me well. I think I’m able to fight off mild depression easier than I used to. Of course, bipolar is a medical illness, and having purpose does not make all my moods magically disappear. But I think it helps.

“I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.”  (Jeremiah 29:11)

I believe that even my strong moods are part of God’s plan for me. Without the highs and lows I’ve experienced I would not be who I am today. I would not be as creative or as passionate. I think I might be quite a bore. I thank God for making me who I am, even if I DO have a mental illness.