The other night in Bible study, my pastor, Auntie to me, read from a word declaring this the “Year of the Josephs.” A year for the dreamers. A year for those who have been taken for granted, overlooked and forgotten to finally take their place.
It struck me because the night before, I had dreamed about being PRN in my own life.
PRN. A professional term meaning “As needed.”
In the dream, I was available for everybody else while somehow being only “as needed” for myself. Everybody else had a standing appointment with my time, my gifts, my strength, my prayers, my wisdom, my problem-solving and my presence. But me? I had squeezed myself into whatever openings remained on the schedule.
And suddenly Joseph looked different to me.
Joseph was a dreamer, but for much of his story, everybody else’s needs seemed to come before the fulfillment of his own dreams. Potiphar needed somebody trustworthy. The prison keeper needed somebody capable. The cupbearer needed somebody to interpret his dream. Joseph kept showing up. He kept serving. He kept using what God had placed inside him.
Then the cupbearer walked away benefiting from Joseph’s gift—and forgot him.
That part sat with me.
Everybody else had a standing appointment with Joseph’s gift while Joseph’s own dream seemed to have been placed on PRN.
And I wondered: What if the Year of the Josephs isn’t only about somebody finally remembering us? What if it is also the year we remember ourselves?
What if taking our place requires us to stop treating the things God placed inside us as optional? Stop giving our dreams whatever scraps of time remain after everybody else’s needs have been met. Stop waiting until there is an emergency in our own souls before attending to ourselves.
But then the Holy Spirit interrupted that thought with another one.
How often do I treat Him the same way?
PRN Holy Spirit.
Holy Spirit, I need You—there’s trouble.
Holy Spirit, speak to me—I have a decision to make.
Holy Spirit, comfort me—my heart is broken.
Holy Spirit, help me—I don’t know what to do.
And none of those prayers are exactly wrong. He is our Comforter, Counselor and Helper. But somewhere along the way, it is possible to treat a promised Presence like an emergency prescription.
Take as needed.
Yet Jesus did not promise us an “as-needed” Holy Spirit. He promised One who would be with us and remain with us. Paul wrote, “Since we are living by the Spirit, let us follow the Spirit’s leading in every part of our lives” (Galatians 5:25, NLT).
Every part.
Not merely emergencies.
Not merely Sunday morning.
Not merely when my own wisdom runs out.
Not merely when Pharaoh calls.
The Holy Spirit was present with Joseph in the pit, in Potiphar’s house, in the prison and in the palace. The location changed. The circumstances changed. Joseph’s title changed. But God’s presence was not PRN.
And perhaps that is part of taking our place too.
I cannot continually make myself PRN while expecting to live fully in my God-given assignment. And I cannot treat the Holy Spirit as PRN while expecting Him to lead a life in which I have already scheduled everything else.
Maybe this Year of the Josephs begins before anybody remembers my name.
Maybe it begins when I remember the dreamer God created in me.
When I give what He placed inside me a standing appointment.
When I stop treating myself like the fill-in.
And most importantly, when I stop treating the Holy Spirit like Someone I call when needed and begin living conscious of the One who was already there.
Because perhaps taking my place isn’t simply about finally arriving at the palace.
Perhaps it is learning to walk with God through every place between the dream and its fulfillment.
Love,
Chelle
