At my company, we have many discussions and activities related to the subject of well-being. Most of these are related to the health dimension of well-being, but we still acknowledge and work toward improving well-being in other areas as well, such as security, belonging, and purpose. This post addresses a little about the purpose dimension of well-being.
If someone asks you “What is your purpose in life?”, how will you respond? Will the answer today be different than a few years ago? Does one’s purpose remain relatively constant throughout adult life, or do you think it’s subject to periodic change?
For a few decades, when I have heard the question, I have immediately thought of the first part of the Westminster Shorter Catechism created in 1647:
“What is the chief end of man? Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him for ever.”
I’m not telling anyone else what their purpose should be by posting the above – just stating that such a clear, concise understanding has helped guide me for many years and continues to do so. But what does that mean? It’s a rather broad statement and certainly open to interpretation at the level of implementation detail. For me, the overall purpose remains constant, but how that fleshes out from one year to the next or even one day to the next is up for grabs. I certainly have some consistent beliefs, practices and commitments related to that purpose, but there is flexibility that can make what I do today a little different that what I did yesterday, and there’s even a little wiggle room in some peripheral beliefs. A sense of purpose may provide wide guidelines and boundaries within which we operate, while still being open to momentary, unexpected events that tie to the purpose, yet could never be planned in advance.
I believe each of us is uniquely positioned in this world to do something and to be someone unlike any other. Nobody else has the exact experiences, motivations, passions, trials, and opportunities as you. Nobody. So it seems that each of us has the opportunity to live out our purpose in a wonderfully unique way that has not existed before and will not be repeated again, even if we share the same overall purpose. It is as though we are actors in a tremendous drama where we get to write part of the script as we go, making the most of each moment.
This unique fleshing out of one’s purpose recalls to mind an insightful thought from one of the main characters in the grand story from the Old Testament book of Esther in the 5th century B.C. As scenes change from one queen losing favor with the king, and a young Jewish Esther becoming queen, evil Haman plots to kill all the Jews in the Persian Empire. Esther’s cousin, Mordecai, in discussing her risky option of approaching the king to help save the Jews, tells her ”who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this” (Esther 4:14). Being in that place at that time for those actions was central to Esther’s purpose in life. I wonder how many little things along the way not recorded in the book contributed to the unfolding of events as they played out. She, and only she, was in a unique position to make a difference in that situation for all time.
Decisions may be seemingly small, random and passing (such as to help that needy person on the street), or large and obviously consequential (e.g., career choices, relationship decisions, and leaps of faith). It’s possible that coincidence is involved in the timing of some things, but it is just as likely (more so in my opinion) that there is more at work than mere coincidence, even in the daily unexpected moments that bring meaning to our days and that relate to our purpose.
My takeaways from thinking about this: Know the broad overarching purpose that gives your life meaning and significance. Plan your days and work hard, but always be open to unexpected opportunities uniquely presented just to you at just that moment. You will respond to them either in accordance with or contrary to your perceived purpose.
Who knows whether you have come for such a time as this?
Two months ago I wrote down the three words that serve as this post’s title: Don’t Lose Sight. I do things like that occasionally when a random thought comes to mind that might serve as the basis for a future blog post. Then I let it simmer for as long as necessary until it’s fully cooked in my mind and it’s time to pull it out of the oven. This one has simmered long enough.
This past weekend was killer. That’s why I’m now a couple of days behind on these posts. There was simply more to be done than ought to be planned for a weekend, but not all of it was within my control.
Even though today was supposedly a non-work day, I still had a number of personal things on my to-do list. I needed to be here when the bathroom tile caulker came for a touch-up; write two blog posts; study and prep to teach my Bible study class tomorrow, plus do a little more study related to last week’s lesson; and create 36 CDs to set out at distribution racks at church in the morning. Of course, walking the dog for a few miles is always on the list, and never too much time passes between check-ins and message exchanges on Facebook, Twitter and other online sites that are part of my constant, daily routine.
It was a simple, friendly moment with a stranger I will never see again. Yet, it was one of my fondest memories of this trip. Dog-man was happy. I was happy. Pickles was happy. Dog-man had $6 he didn’t have before we met and I had a moment with my favorite non-human species that I really miss when I’m traveling away from my dog.
Most things about today were fairly normal. I went to work, interacted with a number of people, got a lot of things done, felt good about what was accomplished and came home. Today was also the day my wife was caring for our granddaughter, so it was a nice bonus to a good day to come home to them and to have some time with Abby. After dinner, I even enjoyed an unusual, two-hour-long nap. I still have a couple of things on my todo list to knock off, but even without those things, it’s been a good day.
On Tuesday morning, if someone had suggested I take the bulk of the day off to stay at home, I would have given several reasons why I could not do that, including:
The world is full of currencies. We see the euro in many European countries. I just spent eight days in China using the renminbi (RMB) or yuan. For a few decades, the U.S. dollar has been the world’s reserve currency. No country’s currency holds that status for too many decades, so I suspect we aren’t many years from seeing the dollar’s reign end in this regard. For thousands of years, precious metals have survived as a form of currency, whether jealous governments choose to recognize them as such or not.
