Tick-Tock Goes the Clock

 I love my peaceful early morning time. I rise around 4:00 to get my day going and the first item on my agenda is my quiet time with our Creator. I love the stillness of the morning, and the quiet, calming tik-tok of the clock in the room where I am sitting. On the surface that clock portrays a pretty simple mechanism. The face, two hands, and the soft tick-tock clicks coming from an unseen source. The unseen source is where this mechanical marvel gets somewhat more complex. The inner workings of a clock make for a tinker's playground. Gears, springs, the oscillator, and the escapement are all behind the scenes working in complete symphony to create the tick-tock of each second of every minute, for each hour of the twenty-four hour day each day. There's an old joke that goes something like this, "What time is it when a clock stops working?" Answer,"Time to get a new clock". The inner workings of a clock keep the hands moving in a minute by minute fashion with no delay or drop which on the surface allows us to keep up with our daily schedule. Take away one small spring or interlocking gear and suddenly the clock completely stops or at best doesn't keep time accurately any longer. It is a safe statement to make that each part of a clock has a unique purpose and it was made to fulfill that purpose in its operation. You were designed and created in the exact same manner. You have a purpose and if you don't fulfill that purpose something in this big old world is not going to happen or at best it will have to be completed with an alternate plan in place. Tick-Tock goes the clock, and beat, beat, beat goes our hearts. 

Just like the tiniest, intricate part of a clock you were uniquely made to fulfill a purpose. Without the smallest spring in the workings of a clock the clock becomes a relatively decorative paperweight. Actually, without every single part of the mechanics of a clock there is no ticking or tokking and there is no time to tell. Each and every part plays a pivotal part in making that clock work. In the same manner, when you were designed and created by God, there was a unique purpose that can only be filled by you put into the workings of this world. You may feel insignificant in the scope of the workings of the whole world, but in reality, just as that tiny spring has to be in the proper place connected to the proper next piece, life just won't happen in God's intended manner without you fulfilling God's plan for your life. 

A favorite saying of mine is "you were made on purpose for a purpose", and how true that tiny cliche is. Without you, how can your divine purpose ever be fulfilled? In simple terms it isn't possible. In Ephesians 2:10 Paul supports this concept with this nugget of truth, "For we are God's handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do." "In advance to do", or in other words for a definitive purpose. Take the spring out of the clock, no tick tock, take you out of your divine purpose, no purpose fulfilled. What that means is, "you" matter. 

In life there are times when we may feel insignificant or purposeless. A life without meaning is the basis of the more than 700,000 suicides across the world each year. Having no hope to the point of taking one's own life speaks directly to the notion of feeling that someone has no purpose in life. Based on what Paul shared with us in Ephesians 2:10 each of us was created in advance by God with a purpose that only you can fill in mind. I envision God working at a craftsman table, tiny sculpting tools lie at finger's reach, paint with paintbrush dripping, and an eye for perfection glistening as you were being crafted by God. He made no mistakes, perfection was accomplished in our imperfect, fleshly bodies. God created you on purpose. For a purpose that only you were created to fulfill. 

Have you come to the understanding that God is omnipotent? He knows all, designed everything and everyone throughout the existence of this world, and God created your DNA to accomplish His divine will for the life you are supposed to live. That truth gives me confidence on the job, in my family, and throughout the trials, afflictions, and successes of life. I will forever search to fulfill God's master plan for this life He has given me to live! "For in Him all things were created: things in Heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through and for Him." Colossians 1:16. You matter, you are unique, and you have a purpose. Find what makes you "tick" and then go out and make this world "tock". 

Coach Carter