Be a Mudder

This post was originally published on November 5, 2017, and is republished today with significant enhancements.

A mudder is an athlete who performs well in muddy conditions. When I played football as a running back, I was a mudder. Back then, most football fields were natural grass. When conditions were perfect, I was not the best player on the field. I was above average. However, when conditions were muddy, I was exceptional. In fact, the muddier it was, the better I was. My coach knew it too, and I got more carries.

That particular element of my character is part of my design. It’s in my DNA. I was not taught how to be a mudder. It was intuitive, yet my skills were refined by playing. I realize the gift of being a mudder is my life’s purpose. Life is messy. When I can serve and help others to operate and find joy in the messiness of life, then I am serving God’s kingdom and the greater good.

In November of 2017, I developed the first version of a purpose statement:

My purpose is to be a player-coach equipping others to overcome their hurts, hang-ups and habits to do the right thing and find joy in life by having a tender heart and tough hide.

Player-coach means I’ve walked in your shoes. Hurts, hang-ups, and habits are life’s messy and muddy conditions. My definition of success is learning to do the right thing and finding joy in life independent of circumstances. 

I recite my purpose statement every morning in my Morning Ritual and look to refine it. Nearly 7 years later, it’s evolved to the following:

I encourage others to Feed Their Good Wolf and discover their uniqueness.

Taking an inventory of my spiritual gifts helped me glean the building blocks upon which my purpose statement is built. I encourage you to take an inventory as well. Here are my top three spiritual gifts, each receiving the same score in the assessment results.

• Discernment – The gift of discernment is the divine strength and ability to spiritually identify falsehood and to distinguish between right and wrong motives and situations. (Matthew 16:21-23; Acts 5:1-11 & 16:16-18; 1 Corinthians 12:10; 1 John 4:1-6)
• Exhortation – The gift of exhortation is the divine strength or ability to encourage others through the written or spoken word and Biblical truth. (Acts 14:22; Romans 12:8, 1 Timothy 4:13; Hebrews 10:24-25)
• Prophecy – The gift of prophecy is the divine strength or ability to boldly speak and bring clarity to scriptural and doctrinal truth sometimes foretelling God’s plan. (Acts 2:37-40, 7:51-53 & 26:24-29; 1 Corinthians 14:1-4; 1 Thessalonians 1:5)

Below is the spiritual gift assessment with definitions of each gift to aid your understanding.

If you need help interpreting your gifts and translating them into a purpose statement, I welcome a conversation to see if I can help. You can contact me using this form.