Most people talk to themselves and that’s okay. It’s normal. I have heard it said that it’s okay to talk to yourself, just don’t answer yourself! But the problem with that lighthearted admonition is that most of the conversations I have with myself begin with a question. And it seems the older I get the more questions I have to ask myself! I ask questions like: Why can’t I sleep? What am I going to do today? Where did I put that thing? What was I doing? What was I saying? What was I thinking? (Although that last one is often said with an exclamation mark!!) Recently the question I have been asking is: What am I here for? You know the scenario. I go from one room into another, I stop and look around, and I am at a loss. I can’t remember what I wanted to do in that room, so I have to ask myself, “What am I here for?” But sometimes when I ask that question I have something deeper in mind.

What am I here for? What’s the point? What’s my purpose in this world? I feel this more now as I am elderly (I hate that word!) and disabled and dependent on others. I am a widow, my children are grown and on their own, my role in life has changed, and so I ask, What am I here for? Perhaps I am not actually asking myself, but in reality I’m questioning God.

Many years ago a children’s worker overheard a mother ask her daughter as she retrieved her from the children’s church service, “Did you have fun?” The teacher reprimanded the mother, “We’re not here to have fun.” I still cringe at the memory. What a way to dampen a child’s enthusiasm for church and for God! But her statement leads us back to the question, what are we here for?

It’s a question philosophers wrestle with and theologians strive to answer.

The great existential question that has plagued every philosopher all the way back through recorded history goes something like this: ‘Why are we here?’ To state it theistically, ‘Why were we created?’ –Tyler Staton (Praying Like Monks, Living Like Fools)

It’s not an easy question with a simple answer. We only scratch the surface of the why and the how. But I do know God’s answer for me.

When I was a young pastor’s wife, new to the ministry and full of self-doubt, I struggled with insecurity. I remember clearly attending a large conference for ministers and their spouses. I felt so small and insignificant, plain and awkward in a crowd of beautiful, successful people. I was a nobody full of self-pity. But God saw me! As the congregation stood to sing a popular chorus of that time, God spoke to me through that song. They sang: Thou art worthy. Thou art worthy, O Lord. For Thou hast created, hast all things created, and for Thy pleasure they are created… and God personalized it for me! I sang it like this: and for Thy pleasure I was created!! Imagine that! You and I exist for God’s pleasure!

That chorus is based on Revelation 4:11.

Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power: for thou hast created all things and for thy pleasure they were and are created. –Revelation 4:11 (KJV)

Most newer Bible versions translate the phrase ‘for thy pleasure’ as ‘by thy will’. He created us, because He wanted to. The NLT puts it this way: “For you created all things and they exist because you created what you pleased.” And He is pleased with what He created! In Genesis, He calls it good. In Psalm 139 we are described as “wonderfully complex” and “marvelous”. Simply put, we are here, because He wants us here and it pleases Him. He is pleased with what He has made and that includes you.

How precious are your thoughts about me, O God. They cannot be numbered! –Psalm 139:17 (NLT)

Certainly our being here is not just a whim to please a far away God. He is very personal and has a purpose and plan for each individual. That is made clear to us in Scripture.

For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. –Ephesians 2:10 (NIV) The NLT of this verse declares we are “God’s masterpiece” and the AMP describes us as “His own master work, a work of art”. Now that’s something to think about!

When my husband passed away, I moved from a three bedroom house to one room in my daughter’s home, so I had to drastically downsize. I had choices to make. This included what pictures to keep and hang on the walls of my new room. I couldn’t take many, but one I decided to keep was a picture of a woman alone in a field with a sickle in her hand. I chose it for a reason. It’s a reminder to me that even though I no longer have my partner in ministry, as a woman alone, I still have work to do for God.

Sometimes I still struggle and wonder and ask the question, “What am I here for?” But then I remember and I tell myself that I am here for Him!

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