13 
For you formed my inward parts;
you knitted me together in my mother's womb.

14 
I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well.

15 
My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth.

16 
Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them,the days that were formed for me,
when as yet there was none of them.
-Psalm 139:13-16

"I'd imagine the whole world was one big machine. Machines never come with any extra parts, you know. They always come with the exact amount they need. So I figured if the entire world was one big machine... I couldn't be an extra part. I had to be here for some reason."
-Hugo Cabaret 

It has always fascinated me how God forms us all so uniquely. Not just with different bodies and physical attributes, but with minds of various inclinations, skills, curiosities, interests, and preferences. As I talk with people, young and old alike, about their callings, to what God is calling them next, we talk about all those things to discern the answer. 

On a recent walk through our neighborhood, my son and I were talking about how to know what God is calling you to do because of your interests and abilities and the needs of the world. Of course, when you're 10, those interests can be deep and wide and you've not had many experiences to tell you what you'd love to work at or not love at all. But it occurred to me how we adults too often strip away our interests outside our vocational calling to arrive at an area or field of focus. 

How often do we stop reading about, exploring, inquiring, or discussing the areas of our imagination and curiosity to focus on those career interests? How often do we stop reading about dinosaurs when we don't become a paleontologist or about the heavens if we don't become an astronomer or stop taking dance lessons because we don't do it professionally? How much richer are our lives when we remember God made every single part of us, every interest and curiosity and skill... with no parts left over?

I encourage you this Lent to think about your interests and skills and curiosities. I encourage you to find ways to resurrect a hobby or begin to explore your passions as a spiritual practice that awakens the dormant parts of your soul that God made within you. And when you do, please share them. Definitely share them with me. I'm curious. 

Prayer for Today

Lord, awake my soul. Stir my imagination. Help me to explore my inmost parts that you made for a purpose. Amen.