The place God calls you is the place where your deep gladness and the world's deep hunger meet.
-Buechner

Thursday, June 11, 2009

Purpose

I've often wondered how, and been in awe of, the fact that after witnessing birth (or creation in general) some people still do not believe in a one single...The Creator. I wonder that too, with adoption. How can a family be connected with a child - who lives a town, a country, or a 1/2 world away - so perfectly.

And lately I've thought the same thing about Purpose.

How can we live and exist without a purpose?

How do we know what that purpose is?

Where do we find it?

Do we grow into it?

Does it change as we evolve throughout our life and personal journey?

Is it there from the beginning and some of us simply find it sooner than later?

I've been at a crossroads lately. Feeling a desire to seek more purpose...or maybe I am needing to find my true purpose. I don't want to be apathetic. I can't sit back and wait for something to happen...I am not a sideline watcher...I need to be getting in there and doing. I don't want to do something simply to say "I've been there and done that". I don't want recognition outwardly and by others. I do want to leave the earth better than I entered it. I want to have purpose in all things and only do what will make a difference. I've been thinking quite a bit about how one goes about doing this.

If at first I don't succeed do I "try, try, again"? I think I could spend a lifetime doing this.

What I have realized through hours of thinking, praying, brainstorming, and observing is that I will never find my purpose if I am not first doing a few things...
  • following God's lead
  • making a difference to others (and myself) with whatever it is I am doing
  • growing
I've been at a crossroads lately. I've been engaged in things that I have signed up for that I don't feel are making a difference. And as I mentioned, I don't want to do something simply to do it. I've been really torn as to how I should "fix" this problem. I've been really seeking (and by seeking I mean praying) about how to get out of this rut and begin being more purposeful.

And, as always happens when we are still...purpose is becoming apparent.

Opportunity is knocking. Change is happening. Purpose and inspiration are becoming apparent.

I am feeling more full. I am realizing why I am here, what I am made to do, what makes me tick.

And I am plugging in.

All it took was consciously stepping aside from busyness, seeing the forest for the trees, and listening in the still quiet of the moment.

The glass is filling.

Each drop in the bucket makes a difference.

Purpose is revealing itself.

Or maybe I am opening myself up to what my purpose truly is.

No comments: