A Mission-Mindset

(Photo: Unsplash)

I power my way past those walking casually. Need to beat them to the TSA Pre-Check lines.

“Boarding pass?”

I flash my pass while quickly scanning the five lines to see which one’s shortest — number 12.

“Ok, next.” I bee-line it through security. 

I charge past more people strolling along: a mother gathering her four scattered children, an elderly gentleman with a cane, and a couple laughing while watching a video on their phone.

I choose the escalator with fewer people so I can walk down and double-time it to the train.

A trick of the trade: If you ride in one of the ends of the train at DIA, you have the quickest path to the escalators going back up to the gates. I hustle into one of the ends, maneuvering to the back door so that I can be the first to burst out as soon as it opens.

Terminal B. According to plan, as soon as the train comes to a stop, the door slides open, and I pop out. I beat the crowds to the escalator and march up. Double the speed. Double the efficiency.

More crowds. More sidestepping and dodging. Until…

I finally make it. Phew.

I’m not late for my flight. In fact, I’m two hours early.

I just want coffee.

I take the lid off my cup and blow away the steam. Looking around, it dawns on me how ridiculous my last fifteen minutes were.

I put the full force of my attention and motivation behind getting coffee. Nothing else mattered. Nothing else could have distracted me.

Getting coffee was my mission.

Getting coffee was my momentary priority.

It also dawns on me that this is, unfortunately, a common occurrence. Little micro-missions constantly interrupt my main mission — building the Kingdom of God.

On any given day, I allow a handful dozens of different things to consume my attention and intention.

I allow my mission of self-giving to deviate into moments of self-getting.

I’m on mission, but then I have to get coffee. I’m on mission, but then I have to get an email out. I’m on mission, but then I have to get to my doctor’s appointment on time. I’m on mission, but then I have to get my workout in. I’m on mission, but then I have to get caught up on social media.

My mission comes to countless different red lights each day. My focus drifts to things I can get rather than ways I can give. I get blinded by the task at hand.

You’re probably not as highly addicted to caffeine, but you can probably relate.

In a fast-paced world with seemingly endless obligations, keeping a one-track mind for the Lord is difficult.

For those of us in the secular world, so many different things vie for control of our minds. It’s simply easier to have an eight-track mind, complete with all the static and random skipping.

But what if we could remain in a state of self-giving — at least more of the time?

Put another way, what if we could remain more locked in on mission?

What if we could live with a mission mindset, fixed on the ultimate task at hand — bringing souls to Christ?

The apostle James writes, “For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord, since he is a man of two minds, unstable in all his ways” (James 1:7-8).

And again, a few chapters later, “Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you of two minds” (James 4:8).

It’s certainly possible to remain more and more in a “state of evangelization,” but we can only do this if we remain more and more in a state of receiving.

Many teachers, writers, evangelists, etc., have commented on the relationship, identity and mission tri-part structure. In case this is new to you — or to brush you up — the idea is that our personal relationship with the Lord allows us to understand our true identity. Once we know who we are, we then know what to do. We know our mission.

Essentially, our mission is born from our relationship with the Lord.

The more we can receive from the Lord through prayer and intentionally drawing near to him in the sacraments, the clearer and more stable our mission becomes. The less we care to actively receive from the Lord, the more shaky and interruptible our mission becomes.

If we want to be anchored in our mission, we need to be anchored in our relationship with the Lord.

If I had remained in conversation with the Lord when I was seeking out coffee at the airport, I could have remained open to the evangelizing work of the Holy Spirit.

Maybe opportunities to build the Kingdom would have presented themselves to me. Maybe that mother of four needed a word of encouragement that the Lord could have spoken through me. Maybe that old man with the cane would have struck up a conversation with me and imparted some wisdom. Maybe that couple watching the video was thinking about returning to the Catholic Church, and I blew off a conversation that could have planted seeds for their reversion.

Maybe I give myself too much credit. I’m not anyone’s savior.

But at the same time, I DO bear witness to THE Savior, and that can’t be done in select moments. That has to flow from who I am. And who I am has to be secured from relentlessly pursuing a relationship with Christ. Nothing else matters more. Nothing is worthy of distracting that.

If we can sink deeper into our relationships with the Lord, then we won’t feel like we need to “pick it back up” when it comes to evangelization. We won’t feel tired from constantly pivoting our attention. Evangelization won’t seem like an additional task on our to-do list. It’ll simply pour out of us.

Imagine what it would look like to get your workout in while keeping your attention outward instead of inward. 

Imagine what it would look like to get that important email out while keeping your driving motivation fixed on making a gift of yourself.

Imagine what it would look like to get to your doctor’s appointment unhurried and in conversation with the Lord.

St. Paul wrote to the church in Corinth, “…take every thought captive in obedience to Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:5). May we learn to take every moment captive to share Christ.