Megin's Tree of Life

I read in one of the books I'm currently reading a way to help secure and focus our life's purpose. Life loses purpose without any effort on our part to head off track. Illness, cleaning up, laundry, cooking, 'tasks' related to our jobs (even if in ministry) can all cause us to lose focus, if we even had one in the beginning.


So this one lady shared that she used the analogy of a tree. Her trunk is her relationship with God and all her spiritual growth. Then her giant limbs are her primary ministries and focal points in her life. Finally, the branches are the parts of those ministries, the activities, etc. Actually mapping out the tree helps her more clearly see if she's letting an activity play too much of a roll and become the trunk and if she's pushed God and seeking him and her spiritual development to a branch.

I drew out "Megin's Tree of Life" this morning. First I wrote down EVERYTHING that fills up my time. Then I mapped out my tree. This is also helpful because it helps you prune things that are taking up your time but that honestly don't fit in anywhere. It also helped me to recognize the activities that were part of primary ministries but not THE ministry itself. This helps me feel less guilty if I'm not perfect in these limb areas knowing that they are PART of the branch but not THE branch. And it also helps to see that the ministries are PART of the trunk but not THE trunk.


I'd recommend making a tree. The whole story of it is found in "Calm My Anxious Heart," by Linda Dillow.