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We’ve talked about radically accepting, owning our circumstances, what are the barriers that prevent us from doing that and defining our core values. Highlight is the concept of purpose. Purpose is the direction that we are constantly moving in. And I think one of the biggest mistakes that we make with purpose is we see it as conditional to our circumstances and seasons in life.
A couple of years ago I was jumping on the bus in Chicago. I think often times the people navigating the streets of major cities have every right to be a little bit irritated and upset. So typically, I get on the bus and the bus driver will look at me and at best give me a head nod. But this one particular day I got on the bus, this woman driving the bus looked at me and she said, “Welcome aboard my bus. It’s an amazing day, and we’re all lucky to be alive. I hope that whatever amount of time that you’re on this bus with me – the next 5 or 20 minutes – that you just really enjoy the ride.”
I was shocked. What was different about this woman? So I got on the bus, and sat down, and lo and behold she did this with every passenger that came aboard her bus. She would get on the speaker and tell people about landmarks in the city and she would encourage you to say hi to the person next to you.
So I couldn’t help myself. I worked my way up to the front of the bus and I said, “What’s going on? Why are you doing this?” And she said, “I’m just living out my purpose.”
And it struck me, that God has called us to live on purpose, in every daily decision of our life. And so often we think: my purpose is my vocation, or my purpose is to achieve a certain status, to be married, to be an executive, to have children. And yet I believe, just like this bus driver, our purpose is to carry out the love of God in every circumstance in our day. Whether it’s waiting in line at your local coffee shop, whether it’s waking up in the morning and getting your kids out the door to school on time, whether it’s balancing your budget or whether it’s in a season of difficulty, God has called us to live on purpose. I want to encourage you to consider, where is your purpose or what you’ve defined as your purpose, perhaps blocking you from actually living out what God has called you to do. See it as something that’s part of your every day.