Everything Has a Purpose

“Everything has a purpose — even machines. Clocks tell the time. Trains takes you places. They do what they’re meant to do… I’d imagine the whole world was one big machine. Machines never come with any extra parts, you know. They always come with the exact amount they need. So I figured if the entire world was one big machine, I couldn’t be an extra part. I had to be here for some reason. And that means you have to be here for some reason too.” ~ Hugo Cabret

What is YOUR purpose?

I’ve thought about that question often throughout my life. Since I tend to spend lots of time in my head, no doubt I think about my purpose more often than most people. Especially lately.

My pastor recently completed a 4-week sermon series about “Shift”. He spoke about how important it is to know our purpose. We can find our purpose by looking at our past experiences, our core values, and our spiritual gifts and natural abilities.

Ironically, as the pastor encouraged us to seek out our purpose, I’ve met twice this month with a team of men and women to discuss forming a grass-roots health ministry.

I say “ironically” because I’ve known “health” was a part of my purpose since I was eight years old… The means have changed during the past several decades, but the end — “making sick people well” — never wavered.

As I drove home from last night’s session, I couldn’t help but marvel at the circumstances that placed me with that group of people at this particular time. Two of the most painful and devastating events of my life  — although a decade apart — eventually led me to the here and now. They are key milestones on the path to last night’s gathering of health workers.  I sure didn’t know it at the time. If I ever write down my life story, it will seem unlikely to most readers. As a friend told me ten years ago, “If I didn’t know you better, I’d think you were making this stuff up. Your life is a never-ending series of coincidences.”

The funny thing is — I’ve had even MORE serendipitous events since she made that statement.

The suspense is building. I think the next few months may reveal how the completed puzzle will look. God isn’t finished with me yet!  Stay tuned…

What IS your purpose?  Are you there yet or do you believe there’s more to come? What circumstances (good or bad) have carried you to where you are now?