Remember Your Why

Megan Hollomon considers looking to Scripture as the best way to get answers to our questions.

If 7 is the age of reason, then it’s also the year my son learned the art of asking “Why?” More often than not, his motive was challenge over curiosity as I quickly and frustratingly fell into the default response of “Because I said so!” That time honored one-liner many of us heard growing up did not get me very far. I have often felt defensive, even argumentative with this little person whose questioning almost feels reflexive in nature.

Just earlier this week, I found myself perusing the gift section of a local pharmacy when a keychain with a familiar quote on it caught my eye: “Remember Your Why.” I walked into the pharmacy to pick-up a routine prescription and here was this moment of revelation … on a keychain of all places.

My son immediately came to mind but this time, I felt a sense of urgency to look at his questioning through a more pensive and purposeful lens. It also dawned on me … how often do we find ourselves asking God the very same question? Even Jesus examined “why,” spoken in His final earthly moments on the cross.

If we look to Scripture to help us better understand, the answer to so many of our “whys” can really be quite simple: Because it serves the Lord.

When the sticky fingered seven-year-old asks “Why?” as I instruct him to wash his hands, I can lovingly (and matter-of-factly) reply, “Because it serves the Lord.” I’ll expand on that. A clean house serves the people in it and in serving others, we are serving our Lord.

There are times in life when the answer to “why” may not come as easily or as readily to us. This is certainly true when it comes to pain, illness and suffering. The answer remains just as His unwavering love for us: Because it serves the Lord.

That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong. (2 Corinthians 12:10 NIV, emphasis mine)

In the context of our life’s purpose, shouldn’t our “why” also be centered on a life that serves others? I love the opening line in Rick Warren’s bestselling book The Purpose Driven Life. “It’s not about you.” He goes on to write, “If you want to know why you were placed on this planet, you must begin with God.”

For everything, absolutely everything, above and below, visible and invisible, everything got started in Him and finds its purpose in Him.” (Colossians 1:16 Message Bible)

“Because it serves the Lord.”

Because WE serve the Lord.

What seven-year-old can argue with that?

Click to tweet:
If we look to Scripture to help us better understand, the answer to so many of our “whys” can really be quite simple. #CatholicMom

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About the author: Megan Hollomon lives in Richmond, Virginia. She is a full-time mom and part-time nurse, passionate about serving the Lord through her work and home life. In her spare time, Megan enjoys running, volunteering at her children’s school and spending time at her family's home on the Potomac River.