Your life’s purpose makes a difference in this world
A teenage girl raised this question, “What is the purpose in one’s life when after all one would just die?” A priest answered this question by saying, “When one comes out from the mother’s womb, that very act alone signifies the will to live. The will to live to be a part of humanity illustrates one’s desire to contribute something into this world to make a difference.”
I am reminded of a story of the starfish which runs this way: A young girl was walking along a beach upon which thousands of starfish had been washed up during a terrible storm. When she came to each starfish, she would picked it up and threw it back into the ocean. People watched her with amusement. While she was doing this for sometime, a man approached her and said, “Little girl, why are you doing this? Look at this beach. You can’t save all these starfish? You can’t begin to make a difference?” The girl seemed crushed and suddenly seemed deflated. But after a few minutes, she bent down, picked up another starfish, and hurled it as far as she could into the ocean. Then, she looked up at the man and replied, “Well, I made a difference.” Inspired, the man joined the little girl in throwing back the starfish into the sea. Soon after, others joined and all the starfish were saved.
What then is the moral lesson of the story? Whatever little act of kindness that we do into this world and whatever little things we do, it can spell a difference into this world. It can even create a ripple like a small stone thrown into the pond of water to inspire others to do the same.
Each of us can make a difference into this world in alignment with our life’s purpose. Our life’s purpose stirs us to the direction wherein we can make a difference in the mainstream of humanity. Whatever your goals and dreams in life that you want to achieve, you can make a contribution into this world. As what philosopher Seneca said, “If a man does not know what part he is steering for, no wind is favorable to him.”
“A life without a purpose is directionless,” echoes author Jonathan Lockwood Huie. Without a purpose, one gets pulled by every passing pleasure and pushed by every twinge of fear. A sense of accomplishment and an on- going satisfaction can only come from having accomplished one’s life’s purpose.
It is in this light that Huie shares some ways to attain one’s purpose in life. These are as follow:
Do the tombstone exercise. This is a quick way to create a simple first version of your life purpose. Allocate a few minutes to visualize your own tombstone. Zoom in on your tombstone. Below your name is a space for one sentence to describe your life. What do you want to see written on your tombstone? Let that surface be so powerful so it can drive your whole life. Be committed to that sentence that nothing can distract you from your goal.
Write your life purpose. Taking inspiration from that sentence you created in your tombstone, begin writing down your purpose.
Put your life purpose today in action. Determine a smaller goal which you can achieve easily.
Be committed to your life purpose and pray to God to help and guide you in achieving your life’s purpose.