Are You Missing Your Purpose While Searching for It?

Purpose.

That seems to be a buzz word these days. Everyone is either searching for their purpose or their purpose is to help you find yours. What does that even mean… your purpose?

The word is defined as being “the reason something or someone was created” or “an objective of something.” So, we are all out here searching for our purpose in life like it’s a lost treasure that holds all the power to a fulfilled life of health and happiness. To some extent, I don’t disagree with this, but what if we are so focused on the forest that we miss the trees? What if we are so interested in finding what our life purpose is that we blow by the fact that there is purpose in every moment of every day? Honestly, I’m not sure we can even know our whole life purpose at any given point of our life. I feel as though my purpose has changed so much in the past 47 years, or at least evolved, with each season of my life.

What if we are so interested in finding what our life purpose is that we blow by the fact that there is purpose in every moment of every day?

Embrace the Purpose in Each Season

What is a forest anyway? It’s a large standing of individual trees, shrubs, and plants. Beautiful, individual, one-not-like-the-other trees. It wouldn’t quite be a forest if it were missing some. Have you ever taken a stroll through a forest? Did you notice that in the fallen, aging, or even dead trees, that there are new trees growing? Throughout the life of one single tree, it gives life to many more. In its youth, it gives its seeds to plant others, continuing to do so as it grows and matures. As the tree matures, it gives shelter, and even life, to other creatures. I absolutely love this! Here is a big, beautiful tree and the purpose of its life is different depending on the season it’s in, but it is always giving life or sustaining others.

My own life, from as far back as I can remember, has required a lot of grit to sometimes just survive. Some seasons I needed a bit more grit, while others called for a pinch more grace. During each season, though, my purpose was different, and there was no way in my earlier years that I could have declared what it would be in my middle years. As a new mom at 22 and leaving the workforce to stay at home, I could not see beyond the diapers, nursing, and late nights. It required a great amount of grit and grace that I would one day have wisdom to walk with other moms through the trenches of raising a family. I just knew my job was to keep this baby boy fed, clean, loved, and alive so I could help him to grow into a kind, caring, hard-working young man.

Let’s just say that now, at 47, these are my middle years, and my purpose is different than it was at 22. I know that writing is a gift that continues to grow with me. I currently use that gift to contribute to The Grit and Grace Project, my personal blog, and I am working on a book. All of these venues dip into the wisdom I gained through my life experiences, but when I was in high school and really finding a voice for my writing, I could not have imagined that I could use it to help other women.

So, as my Grandma Ann would have said, don’t work yourself into a tizzy thinking you have to know your life purpose right now. Take a breath, look around, and embrace the season of life you are in. This season is a gift, with a purpose of its own. It may be attending college, raising a family, working, or all of the above, but there is a reason you are in this place in life. As the seasons of your life change, so will your purpose. Embrace the seasons of your purpose as well; they are teaching you to dig deep for that grit and to tap into your grace, preparing you for the next season and purpose. But always keep your eyes open for what may come next.