Purpose, Passion, and Partnership™: Discovering God's Dream for Our Lives

"I am come that they may have life, and have it to the full." John 10:10

It has been said that nothing matters more than knowing God's purposes for your life, and that living with purpose is the only way to really live. Conversely, nothing can compensate for not knowing that purpose. How can we, in today's vernacular, be able to live a "purpose-driven life?" I can picture Lucy saying to Charlie Brown, "Charlie, I wonder what my purpose in life is?" And I can hear Charlie saying, "Good grief!" Discovering our purpose can sound a bit ethereal, or mystical-- like why don't we keep our feet on the ground and live in this world. In reality, a strong sense of mission or purpose is the very thing that helps us to live in this world! Soren Kierkegaard, the Danish thinker, in the nineteenth century wrote in his journal: "The thing is to understand myself, to see what God really wants me to do; the thing is to find a truth which is true for me, to find the idea for which I can live and die." Wow! That is a pretty powerful statement. I'd like to talk about finding out what God could have for each of our lives--- the purposes He has in mind, the passions He gives us to fulfill those purposes, and the partnership He offers for our life's journey. We will think about these in the context of understanding our life and whatever dreams God may have in store for us. As the saying goes, "Let the journey begin!" First, we are told, "The Lord has made everything for his own purposes." And, "The Lord will fulfill His purpose for me." This realization should change the way we look at everything--- our dreams, our lives, and our future. All are not meant to be aimless. There is a raison d'etre involved, a higher purpose. Actually, we all want to find a purpose that is bigger than ourselves. That realization impacts us in the different seasons of life, whether we are students, housewives, business men and women, or elders. We often ask, "What could I do with my life? What would have meaning?" These questions are first asked in school, and perhaps last asked when we are well into our golden years. When younger, we may be seeking a career path; when our children get older, and we do ourselves, we may be looking for ways to further use our talents and fill our days. (Researchers suggest that with ever increasing life spans, finding ways to be productive and useful will present an ongoing challenge.) Mission and purpose have many facets to them. While our first calling is to love and glorify God, our secondary "callings" are to think, speak, and live for God as a personal response to His summons. "We are God's workmanship, created … to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do." What were you created to do? Like Lucy, have you thought about your purpose and wondered how to find it? Your mission or purpose could be described as: Using the talent you most enjoy using, in the place or setting God has caused to appeal to you the most, for the purposes which God most needs to have done in the world. Fred Buechner, author of Wishful Thinking-- a Theological ABC, emphasizes much the same as we have been talking about: "The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world's deep hunger meet." If you were to write out a life purpose statement reflecting these things, what would you say? I would suggest you take a pen and paper and write down your thoughts about the particular setting and the talents used that would "appeal to you the most." You may have to list several things, to see the one thing that speaks to your heart the most deeply. This will require separating your stronger desires from your lesser desires. Pay close attention to the dream that reaches out to you and won't let go. This is the time to temporarily suspend logic and circumstances, and listen to what your heart is saying. I have said before that I would never have written a book if I had listened to "logic", or if I had wondered how my circumstances would have made that dream possible. I, too, went with the dream that most resonated with me. All I had read suggested I do that. I believed I was following a dream that God had given me. I "discovered" it after doing what we are talking about here. Fortunately, that dream did come to fruition! Therefore, make note of the dream that truly motivates you and makes you want to do something about it. It is key to discovering a purposeful life. It is important that you not look to outside influences or others to establish the purposes of your life. Others can be helpful, but their help should come after you have understood what you think is the mission/purpose God has placed within you to accomplish His will. Our God-given dreams are there to help us get in touch with God's purposes. They usually start as a longing or desire that springs from our hearts, rather than from outside suggestions. If we feel a dream is God planted, we can then ask for that seed to be "watered", and step out in faith as God should lead. We will not need to batter down doors, (a danger sign if we do) but they will open in accordance with God's will and timing. Purpose isn't fulfilled by our striving. Yes, there will be needful "work" to do to get things done. That work, however, shouldn't be approached by bulldozing our way through our tasks "come what may." Purpose is fulfilled by answering the call on our lives. And for each of us to…“live a life worthy of the calling you have received." Second, our deep heart motivations, desires, or passions are there to inspire us to action, to fulfill God's plans and purposes for our lives. We all have certain motivating desires; some would say desires for life as it was meant to be. While elusive at times, they are nevertheless like a treasure waiting to be discovered and released. Sometimes I have heard someone say, "Nothing motivates me." Or, "Nothing motivates my son or daughter." I would respectfully disagree. When that person finds what motivates them, he or she will be motivated. It will be like a fire lit from within. In fact, it won't be their own strength that will sustain them when they eventually do follow a dream--- it will be the strength of their purpose. John Eldredge, author of The Journey of Desire, has said: "Desire is the map we have been given to find the only life worth living." And, "we must journey to find the life we prize. And the guide we have been given is the desire set deep within, the desire we often overlook or mistake for something else or even choose to ignore." Again: "If we are to bring our hearts along in our life's journey, we simply must not, we cannot, abandon this desire." God gives us Godly passions also for a reason. You might have been given a passion about a particular problem, a principle, a group of people. You might have a passion for teaching, for becoming a doctor, for writing a book, for any of a number of possibilities. In the meantime, as we observe flowers pushing up through fresh dirt and reaching for the sky, our challenge is to put aside those things that encumber us and to reach for the stars -- to grow into the person God meant us each to be. Happy dream journey, Judy Peterson