Do you believe in purpose? That your life has a specific purpose... That without you to fulfill your called purpose the world will somehow have some great deficit of...humanity.. Maybe, maybe not, but we each have a role to play, and we each have purposes to fulfill in our lives.
I do believe in purpose. I believe that God provides us a purpose but I don't believe that it's a one and done type of scenario. I believe that God has different purposes for different phases of life. An example of this could be when we are young are purpose may be to learn; learn now to be able to comprehend later. Learn for the sake of learning. Learning to be prepared.
After high school your purpose might not be so clear. Could it be school, find a job, get married, none of the above. At this age I do believe it's difficult for some, maybe more than some, to focus on a singular mission. It is during this time in most people's life when they are accumulating life experiences and consequently the life lessons that go along with those experiences. Who's to say that isn't the purpose of this time in your life? Each of us have been given a trail, a path, in life and the steps we take during our early years are vital to understandings how we will go about reaching the end of the path, but just like any good trail there will be opportunity for wandering....opportunity for diversion...or maybe, your purpose lies in the number of diversions you took to reach the fulfillment of one purpose.
Does anyone besides myself find it interesting that the life of a person is divided into metaphorical chapters? She moves on to college a chapter closes, a new one begins. He graduates college to begin a new chapter of his life in the business world. You get the drift...Major changes in our lives are usually marked with happiness, sadness, and/or apprehension or fear. If we think of our lives as books then those beginnings and ends are our various purposes throughout life. Living life is not about 1 singular purpose, it may be that you don't live your daily life with a full and deep understanding of the whole of your purpose completely understood. These pieces of your fulfilled purpose are broken down in to the chapters of your life. Smaller purposes, just as important as the whole
It's difficult for some people to understand this concept. Personally, I see this with "Empty Nester's". Their purpose of being a parent, chauffeur, chef, maid, and mind reader seem to disappear with the physical presence of the reason they felt the need to be all those things. Their children have moved out. They are moving on to the next phase in their lived. Their accomplishment closes a chapter in their own lives but it triggers an abrupt ending to a chapter in the lives of their parents as well. What some of the "Empty Nester's" seem to forget is that they have not lost the child but rather there has been a paradigm shift in the dynamic of their relationship. I realize that no matter how you slice it, dice it, or analyze it the child goes through to their new chapters and we, as parents, must find a way to move on into our own as well.
I don't believe that God looked at any one and said that he/she has an expiration date. There is no best if used by date stamped on your body, brain, or spirit. That means that you and your life continue to have and hold value. That means that your purpose may have changed but you still have a purpose. Yes, it's more that "send more money" when your child calls from college. Remember this the next time you think that God is done or you have nothing more to give.
