There’s a saying in architecture: Form follows function.
What that means is if you don’t get the function right (if the building’s strength, integrity, and usefulness are shaky), then it doesn’t matter how pretty the building is (what form it takes).
But when it comes to you and finding your life’s calling, the opposite is true:
Function follows form.
In other words, the form of you should determine the function of you. Lemme ‘splain.
Your unique “wiring” is something that (ideally) gives direction to your life. Along with your experiences, relationships, and opportunities, your wiring is like a built-in GPS meant to direct you toward your biggest impact in the world and greatest satisfaction with life.
It’s a guide that wants to help you get from where you are to where you most want to go.
That’s why it’s critically important to understand and own all of your unique form. You need to be able to identify why you do what you do, and how the way you do it is unique to you. That insight will help you find and follow your life’s calling.
But when we don’t understand the qualities that make us uniquely us, we tend to take on forms that are not ours. We try to “put on” someone else’s idea of the form we should have. We’re David in King Saul’s armor, awkward, weighted down, and not much good for anything.
Taking on forms that are not ours leads us into all kinds of disaster: paralyzing confusion, dead ends, unnecessary loneliness, and unrealized dreams. Nothing will take us in an unhelpful direction faster than trying to copy someone else’s form.
Now, let’s get biblical, y’all.
In the beginning, when God creates everything from nothing, the Bible says things were “without form.” Then God gave them form, and voila! Planets! Oceans! Starbucks! And when he took a good look at all those forms he’d made, God “saw that it was good.”
With that in mind, try this: imagine God (or your idea of the divine) taking a good look at the utterly unique person you are. Then he pauses and says this about you: “It is goooooooood.”
In other words, your “form” is good for you and good for those around you.
Function follows form. So the next time you’re feeling lost, confused about your life’s purpose, or paralyzed with indecision while the clock ticks away, try doing the same:
Listen to what your form is telling you about what to do next.
Questions to think/talk/journal about:
- What other “forms” are you taking these days ? Can you see yourself as distinct from your parent’s form? Your pastor’s? Your employer’s? Your teacher’s? Your significant other’s?
- The only way to wholeheartedness (the Hebrew word is “shalom”) is by owning all of you. How can you more fully accept ALL of you? Are there parts being left out that need to be faced and embraced? Who can help you do that work?