I am on the journey with people of discovering purpose, exploring our purpose, getting fit for purpose and living on purpose.

 

I like the analogy of a journey because I believe it is not a destination but a journey. You may be at a place where you have not thought about why you are here? Is there a greater purpose or is this all there is?

 

One of my take aways from one of our sessions in 2016 was that this is it;

life is not a dress rehearsal, this is the real deal. We only have one life to live and would it not be great to choose to live your best life?

 

In my meditations on this topic I keep on coming back to the point that we do not know our own potential. Scientifically there are personality, IQ and EQ tests but do these predict future performance or merely how we are likely to behave based on past experiences or personality traits? Even people who went on to achieve great things, invented products that have changed our way of living, I do not believe that most of them started thinking I want to change the world. Most just narrowly focused on solving a problem or engaging in a cause they felt a strong conviction about. Something that internally grasped them and either they or it would not let go.

 

I was telling my coach that I do not think I have the internal marker as she calls it, to know when something cannot be done. I generally come from the point of view that most things can be done no matter the personal sacrifice it requires from me. Others may start by assessing the price to pay and may decide it cannot be done. I get to the finish line and then think was it worth achieving that despite the personal cost to me? I soldier on nevertheless.

 

A personal story – My son was not doing well, in fact was doing poorly in maths and I then decided that he has to do better at school. I told him that I want an ‘A’ for maths which to him may have sounded like achieving the impossible. I did not take no for an answer and four months later he achieved that ‘A’ grade in maths. He was grinning from ear to ear. He had just seen a glimpse of his own potential. My thinking is that while I do not have concrete evidence that he is not a genius, I treat him like one. The unthinkable then seems to happen, he produces the results in line with our belief.

 

I do not belive that Mandela set out to become the global leader he ended up being. He simply took on a cause that he said he believed in and if needs be, a cause he was willing to die for.

 

So how do you know that you are not going to produce the next great invention, solve the next community problem, change the lives of orphaned children? Most of us don’t know whether we will or we won’t. The only thing we need to do though is be faithful and true to yourself, respond to that inner yearning to make a difference, to serve others and in the process you bless the world with what your Creator already placed inside of you. We call that Purpose.