Keep Moving: Discover Your Purpose and Your Gift
Recently, I pulled into the Wal-Mart parking lot because there was something specific I had in mind that I needed to get. As I got out of my car and was walking into the store, I was repeating to myself what I needed to get. I usually voice text it to my Reminder app on my phone at some point during the day so I won’t forget. I firmly believe there is some sort of invisible force field that exists in the entrance of every Wal-Mart that wipes your memory of what you went in for and more times than not you walk out with hundreds of dollars worth of stuff that you didn’t go in for and the one thing you actually went there to buy – you didn’t get it. This happened to me (minus the hundreds of dollars worth of stuff – more like $50.)
However, rather than retreating back to my vehicle or throwing my hands up in frustration because I felt like was just wandering around aimlessly, without purpose, and a look of utter loss and failure on my face, I kept moving. I kept walking. I chose to believe that I came in the store for a reason, for a purpose and I refused to leave until I remembered why I had come in. I had wandered through the store for about 10 minutes and had picked up a few things. Then, I remembered what I came in for – I don’t recall if it was something I saw, heard, or smelt but I made a beeline for the item and thankfully, it was in stock.
Can you relate to this silly story? Do you get the feeling that you are lost at times? Just wandering around aimlessly? Feeling like deep within you there is a reason, a purpose that you’re here but it just won’t come to you or reveal itself? You find yourself getting increasingly frustrated and in your “shopping cart” you just keep stockpiling on things, people, relationships that perhaps scratch the itch for while but eventually, the void returns. You’re still wandering around. It is a search for purpose.
A question for you as you are reading: where do you think the wealthiest place on earth is? (I’ll wait.) Perhaps you thought of the oil fields in the Middle East. Or the diamond mines in South America. Or the bank accounts of Jeff Bezos, the founder, Chairman, and CEO of Amazon. I submit to you that the wealthiest place on earth is the cemetery. Wait! What?
It is filled with books that were never written; music that was never played; visions that never became reality; dreams that died as nightmares; inventions that were never used; businesses that were never launched; remedies that were never utilized; leaders that died as followers; ideas that were never shared; purpose that was never realized.
When purpose is not known, abuse is inevitable. The greatest tragedy in life is not death but life without a purpose. It is more tragic to be alive and not know why than it is to be dead and not know life. The idea is to live full but to die empty – to finish your race knowing you gave what was in you.
Have you had a dream in your heart, a vision in your mind, a passion that you have put on the shelf? Perhaps you shared it with the wrong person and they convinced you that “someone like you” could never reach to those heights. Perhaps you grew up in a household that didn’t encourage you or you suffered such a loss that you stopped moving forward. Friend, I don’t believe that you are reading this column by accident. If you grew up around or are surrounded by negativity and complacency, it is up to you to break that generational curse. When they say, “It just runs in the family” you respond with “This is where it runs out!”
How many of us have just stopped? Not put it in neutral but actually stopped? If you drive an automatic vehicle, there is P, R, N, D. But in life, there is no neutral. Maybe its time to put that gear back in drive and go for it!
When we discover our purpose and our gift, we develop the confidence, security, self-worth, self-esteem, and self-significance that protect us from the threat of competition, comparison, and jealousy. You must decide if you are going to rob the world or bless it with the rich, valuable, potent, untapped purpose locked away within you. We need what’s inside you!