There are many people in the world who are overcome by a meaninglessness of life. They join organizations, churches, political parties, neighborhood groups, coffee clatches and more and still feel the tug of the inner self to know why they are here and what their purpose could possibly be.
After having been an active person in my family, my neighborhood, my career, and my church for decades, I had not asked myself what my purpose was on earth. I always seemed to have one. Then someone asked me, "Do you know your purpose on earth?". Quite frankly, the question stunned me.
I read several books, thought a great deal, and came to the conclusion that I did not have "a" purpose in life....I have, and have had, many.
If one looks at their life from the time they can remember up to the present time, one can see that the statement "I have many" is absolutely correct.
We walk around in a fog when we start asking this question. We look for something more than what we have or see or are. We seem to be aware that we have life, but at some point must ask if we are truly living life.
What I discovered in my own life that my purpose changed as the needs around me changed and that I truly did not need to look for "a" purpose, as I had had purpose all my life, as everyone on earth does, and continue to have purpose.
Families change and grow. Communities change and grow. The world as a whole changes and grows.
For each time of life...childhood, young person, middle aged person, old person....the purpose of life changes.
Our opportunity to see our purpose lies in the ability to see the opportunities presented to us (They're all aound us every day!) in each phase of our life, and know that taking those opportunities is the purpose of life.
We are all alive in the sense that we live and breath and have being. Many, however, are afraid of life and even more afraid of death and spend most of their waking life worrying about this life or hoping for a better one next time around. These people therefore miss out on actually living and recognizing their purposes while drawing breath. They walk like the dead among those who actually recognize the purposes of life and live it full speed, full on, and head toward the grave with no fear and a smile on their faces.
For me, giving back to family and community drives my sense of self worth, my sense of being needed no matter what my age or circumstances, and my simple joy of living life.
I once was challenged to o a good deed each day with the qualification that no one, even the person on the receiving end of the good deed, could know that it was my good deed. It had to be anonymous. In anonimity, the good deed is not for show. It's not to have others tell you what a good person you are. It is not for accolades of any sort. It is for finding the good within and sharing it without expectation of return. It is wonderful.
This is the hardest thing I ever accomplished. I struggled every night to figure out how I could do a good deed for someone the next day and do it anonymously. As I grew in creativeness, I realized what the real purpose of this exercise is. It is not the good that it does others, but the good it does the one practicing the art of love in an anonymous way. It was living life in the way it is meant to be lived...in the service of others and thereby in the service of one's own divine spirit.
I have since issued this challenge to several other people who were looking for "a" purpose in life. Not all of them accepted the challenge, but those that did said that what they learned is that there is opportunity to do something good every day. In other words, there is opportunity to live ones purpose here on earth on a daily basis.
Our purpose changes. It grows. It develops into something grander and more beautiful than we can ever dream. All we have to do is have a keen eye to see the opportunities which give us purpose at each step on the glorious journey we are living.
