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Life: On Purpose!
It is too easy to just live for today, but that evidences a
lack of direction and usually results in aimlessness. If you have no idea where
you are going or when you need to arrive, it doesn't really matter which way
you are headed. Any road will get you there and any place will do as well as
another. There is a vast difference between someone who is just out for a
"Sunday drive" (do they still have those anymore?) and a young husband
rushing to the Hospital with his wife in contractions with their first baby.
The first is enjoying some pleasant leisure time - the other is making
purposeful use of time, with much at stake and little to spare. Which best
describes you right now?
When I was in my fifties, I fondly considered a future time of "retirement"
when the daily schedule would be easier, responsibilities fewer, and maybe
some extra time for wife and family, and golf and travel. Life at a slower
pace and with nowhere in particular to go sounded inviting at the time. Now,
much closer to that reality than I was then, I wonder how I will invest my
freer time and fewer commitments still in profitable ways. I think that up
to now, much of my professional life has been more the picture of the husband
and father rushing his wife to the Delivery Room. I do not believe that I am
ready for unending leisure. The "Sunday drive" approach to daily life is not
the way I want to live my later years. I need a reason to get up in the
morning, a place to contribute something that is helpful others. I believe
that life at every age is supposed to be fulfilling and fruitful.
Life is to be fruitful - all of it - and that alone brings fulfillment. Yes,
there are varying seasons - singleness, establishing a career, marriage,
family, middle age, empty nest, professional success, and senior years. The
"retired" people that I observe who live rich and satisfying lives have sought
a way into their new chapter of life, not out of something, but into a better
time with broader options. Retirement for some needs to be redefined, more as
a time in which you are freer to do what you enjoy doing in the Kingdom of God
rather than only what you have had to do to make a living. A rocking chair and
porch swing is too small a life for meaning and fulfillment. That's how people
get old and their world too small!
Life without a sense of purpose is wasted, whatever your age. Life that is
fruitful - this is true for the young, the middle-aged, and seniors - requires
direction, action, and expectation. See John 15. Those evidence a person with
a sense of purpose. Purpose simplifies every day life. Life isn't complex
unless you make it so. Purpose narrows the range of choices to only those
choices that better serve your achieving your objective. Purpose clarifies
what you must do while eliminating things that are unnecessary. Purpose
assigns your destination, and that understanding charts the direction that
will best take you there.
When you know where you are going, and are confident that you will get there,
you suddenly are freer to enjoy the journey - less self-absorbed and more
able to notice others you can help along the way. Why waste time on a path
that leaves you nowhere, or leads you where you never intended to go? Does
your life have a clear sense of direction? Direction determines appropriate
action. How can you know what action to take until you know your life's
direction?
Life is the product of the choices you make and the actions you take. Be
deliberate about daily life. Once you know the direction for your life,
take the appropriate actions to get you there. Inactivity drains the soul
and wearies the body and spirit. It is possible to waste so much time
thinking about what you are going to do that you never make the time to
do that. Talking about it never gets the job done. Where do you need to
start to reach your goals? What is a first, small step that you could
take that would get you started on the journey to greater satisfaction
and fulfillment?
Life's achievement is often the product of your expectation. Notice the
proper order: expectation does not precede action; it follows your action.
Expectation is the growing sense inside of your heart when you know God's
direction and are taking actions of faith and obedience to God. If you expect
to fail, you will probably fulfill your own prophecy. If you expect to succeed,
you will more likely do what it takes to be successful. Jesus said, "According
to your faith, let it be to you!" Matthew 9:29. That is not mere positive
confession. It is so much more. It is the inner conviction that God will use
you to accomplish His purpose.
Here's what I hear God saying, "Purposefully position yourself, facing your
future." That's how you live life, every day on purpose.
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