I listened to a podcast today with Barbara Brown Taylor, and her words below about purpose sure put this college application process into perspective.
Earlier in my life, I thought there was one particular thing I was supposed to do with my life. I thought God had a purpose for me and my job was to discover what it was. So I began asking God to tell me what I was supposed to do. What was my designated purpose on this earth? How could I discover the vocation that had my name on it? Since this was an important prayer, I searched for the right place to pray it. After a few lackluster attempts by the side of my bed and a few more in various cubbyholes around campus, I found a fire escape that hung precariously from the side of a deserted Victorian mansion next door to the Divinity School. Stepping over the “Danger: Keep Off” sign at the bottom, I climbed to the top, listening to the bolts creak as my feet thundered up the narrow iron steps. The fire escape turned out to be an excellent place to pray. Doing something that scared me cranked up my courage. I climbed up so often, I no longer remember which night it was that God finally answered my prayer. I do not think it was right at the beginning, when I was still saying my prayers in words. One night when my whole heart was open to hearing from God what I was supposed to do with my life, God said, “Anything that pleases you.”
“What!” I said, resorting to words again. “What kind of answer is that?”
“Do anything that pleases you,” the voice said again, “and belong to me.”
At one level that answer was no help at all. The ball was in my court again. I could be a priest or a circus worker. God really did not care. At another level, I was so relieved. It was not WHAT I did, but HOW I did it that mattered. If I wanted a life of meaning, then I was going to have to apply the purpose for myself.
Later I would find the work of Martin Luther helpful in this regard, a monk who became convinced that no livelihood was dearer to the heart of God than any other. He left the monastery to proclaim the priesthood of all believers. Whatever our jobs in the world happen to be, Luther said, our mutual vocation is to love God and neighbor.
It seems to me that what many people are missing is a sense of purpose in their work. I think most people want to be good for something. I think they want to do something that matters, to be part of something bigger than themselves, to give themselves to something that is meaningful instead of meaningless.
Find something that feeds your sense of purpose and do that.
- Barbara Brown Taylor, An Altar in the World
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