Three Words about Finding Purpose
Do you ever wonder, like me, what your life is all about? What is your purpose in life? Or as a friend recently said to me, “I don’t feel like I have any dreams for my life.” It’s a big question, an important matter of prayer. We naturally want to feel like we are contributing in a meaningful way to the world, or at least to our family and friends. But this pin-point purpose is illusive to so many. And it rarely just falls upon someone in a life-changing sort of way. Finding purpose in life typically is a slow unfolding.
As I meditated on this question recently, three examples came to mind that helped me form my thoughts and express my own sense of purpose. And to put these examples into a nutshell, they rest on three words: Wisdom, Delight, and Belovedness.
WISDOM - Parker Palmer, the Quaker educator and author of Let Your Life Speak, and other books says that before you can tell you life what you want it to be, you need to “let your life speak.” In other words, there are clues built into your DNA, into your experiences, your personality, your preferences, your passions, your gifts and talents. This inner wisdom is something we may tend to downplay mostly because the experiences of life feel so “ordinary.” So it takes some time to really look at your life, the types of books you read, the movies you’re drawn to, the things that bring you joy. All these elements open doors to unique opportunities that you alone can fulfill, that you are equipped to offer to this world.
DELIGHT - Does the name Eric Liddell ring a bell for you? Remember the Olympic runner immortalized in the movie Chariots of Fire? Eric had a most unorthodox method of running, almost flailing through the air to win race after race. And while his story revolved around his commitment to honor the Sabbath by not running his race on his set-aside Sabbath day, what really compelled him was this: “I feel the delight of God on me when I run.” God’s delight. Are there places in your life when you feel like you’re in the flow of Divine delight, something that compels you that feels like “I can’t not do this,” maybe as you solve a problem at work, or rock a child in your arms, or break out the paint and brushes, or write a thought in a journal, or hike along a beach at sunset. The opportunities to experience God’s delight on you and within you are endless and draw you into the purpose of existence at any given moment.
BELOVEDNESS - When you think of Mother Teresa, you see a woman who knew her purpose and lived it out with her unwavering commitment to the poor. Yet the story is told that a reporter asked her, “How do you know you’re doing God’s will…that this is what you’re supposed to be doing?” To which she smiled and said, “I don’t do the will of God. I am the will of God.” There’s a thought to sit with. To know you are the will of God means to know you are beloved by God. She explains, “Wherever God has put you, that is your vocation. It is not what we do but how much love we put into it.” I don’t know about you, but this makes life so much simpler, so purely purposeful in every minute of life I’m given. Oh, to live in that simple approach of doing “little things with great love.”
FOR SPIRITUAL DIRECTION CONVERSATION:
How do you respond to the three words used to describe calling, vocation, or purpose?
Which of these three areas do you most desire to grow in confidence: Belovedness, Delight, Inner Wisdom?
How are you experiencing or exploring the invitation of purpose and offering yourself to the world in some meaningful way? Have you over-complicated, over-committed, or over-thought your purpose in some ways that could benefit from the simple instruction of Mother Teresa?
What grace or gift would you ask of God in helping you grow into the sacredness of Godly purpose?
