“If it falls your lot to be a street sweeper, sweep streets like Michelangelo painted pictures, like Shakespeare wrote poetry, like Beethoven composed music; sweep streets so well that all the host of Heaven and earth will have to pause and say, “Here lived a great street sweeper, who swept his job well.”
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Finding meaning and purpose in life is key to well-being. Whether your job is menial like King’s illustration from his famous convocation address, or whether you are a person of great fame or a leader.
No matter our age or status, we all ask the 3 Big Questions:
- Who am I? – the identity question
- Where do I fit? – the belonging question
- What difference can I make? – the purpose question
In their recent book, 3 Big Questions That Change Every Teenager, researchers Kara Powell and Brad Griffin interviewed diverse group of Gen Z students and found that they are all have dreams of making a difference in their world.
But it isn’t just young people facing career choices that need to grapple with question three. People on a recovery journey, or who have experienced a significant loss, often feel called to serve those with similar stories. Retirees with another 10 to 20, or more, good years ahead of them, often find great meaning in putting their life’s experiences and wisdom to use in equipping the generations below them. Or finding a passionate philanthropic cause. Or rediscovering a lost childhood dream that was squashed with more pressing financial or family needs.
There may also be those who are in a successful career, or who have a decent job, but one that doesn’t satisfy a deep need for fulfillment. For some the Covid-19 pandemic has been a wake-up call where many are reconsidering their options. They are calling it the “Great Resignation.”
What gives life meaning?
In his book At Your Best, author, podcaster and leadership expert Carey Nieuwhof suggests that people who find the sweet spot at the overlap of the Venn diagram below will thrive and find fulfillment (He calls it your Optimal Green Zone):
It is the intersection of what you are gifted at (strengths or talents), what you truly love to do and can’t wait to get out of bed for (passion), and what gives the reward of making a difference (impact).
Here are three questions Carey suggests to find your gifting:
- What seems effortless to me that seems difficult or complex to others?
- What talent do I keep using in different settings?
- What do other people affirm in me as my gifting and talent?
Carey goes on to suggest that the key to finding your passion is to look for things that give you energy. Something you can’t imagine not doing, even if it is hard, but still find immensely rewarding.
And to find your most significant impact, here are Carey’s three questions for that sphere:
- What can I do today (or in this season) that will have a significantly positive impact?
- What few things (or one thing), when done well, will help me move the cause forward?
- What activities, when I repeatedly do them, help me make meaningful progress?
It is the powerful combination of gifting (whether natural, learned, or spiritual gifting) with passion that produces the greatest impact. And gives life meaning and purpose, in turn contributing to well-being in all four of our quadrants (Physical, Mental, Spiritual, and Relational).
What story are you a participant in?
In 3 Big Questions That Change Every Teenager, the authors quote Scottish philosopher Alasdair MacIntyre from his book, After Virtue, where he writes: “I cannot answer the question, ‘What ought I to do?’ unless I first answer the question, ‘Of which story am I a part?’”
The late pastor and theologian, Eugene Peterson, said, “God is the larger context and plot in which our stories find themselves.” If you are a person of faith and a follower of Jesus, you will likely identify yourself in the Biblical Grand Narrative.
Kara Powell and Brad Griffen go on in their book to help young people find their place in God’s grand narrative: The restoration through Jesus’ death and resurrection of all that was lost in humanity’s fall in Genesis 3.
They then propose 6 Act Play Narrative where we find ourselves today in Act 5:
- Act 1 – Beginnings – A perfect creation and Paradise
- Act 2 – The Fall – Paradise lost
- Act 3 – Covenant – the promise to Abraham to birth a nation to be a light to other nations
- Act 4 – Jesus’ redemptive (restoration of Paradise Lost) work through living a perfect life, and His death and resurrection
- Act 5 – Delegation to Christ’s followers to be difference makers by sharing the Good News (The Great Commission) and living in healthy community
- Act 6 – The New Creation and New Heaven – Paradise regained
In our post on values, we saw how your values steer your car to keep it on the road, the so-called “straight and narrow.” Your mission, the bigger story you are a part of, determines your ultimate destination.
Finding your way
IHTC’s home page introduced the inspiration we take from the life of the butterfly:
“Our inspiration for transformation is taken from the butterfly which must endure painful metamorphosis from a lowly caterpillar to a beautiful butterfly. That rebirth so aptly symbolizes how many of us come to the end of our rope before we admit our shame and brokenness, and seek help and healing. Only then, as we become more emotionally and relationally mature, can we display our true colours and fly to fulfill our God-given destiny.”
The season we are in as adults in our own journey will influence where we find fulfillment and purpose in life. We can be a caterpillar, or in the painful metamorphosis of the chrysalis, or already emerged as a beautiful butterfly.
We can liken our early adult life and our early career to be like the caterpillar. Author David Brooks in The Second Mountain also talks about three seasons like that: Mountain 1, a valley, and Mountain 2. He says “We conquer our first mountain, but our second mountain conquers us.” The first mountain is about making a mark in the world, like being established in a career, marrying and starting a family, and cultivating life skills and character.
The valley experience (or the equivalent chrysalis cocoon stage), is often what pulls our passion and impact into the direction of sharing what we ourselves just went through. It may come from hitting a wall, or a failed relationship, or a loss. Maybe burnout or depression.
In Choice 8 of Life’s Healing Choices, the late John Baker, founder of Celebrate Recovery, wrote: “Your greatest contribution to this world–your greatest ministry–will not be found in your strength but in your weakness.” Former addicts want to serve and help other addicts. Someone who has suffered the loss of a child wants to make a significant contribution to others with a similar loss. Those who suffer from racial injustice want to be a positive voice and celebrate healthy diversity.
David Brooks puts it this way:
“The valley is the making of them. The season of suffering interrupts the superficial flow of everyday life. They see deeper into themselves and realize that down in the substrate, flowing from all the tender places, there is a fundamental ability to care, a yearning to transcend the self and care for others. And when they have encountered this yearning, they are ready to become a whole person.”
This is the second mountain. The butterfly in full colour and beauty. It will be the season of your greatest contribution.
Write your personal mission statement
Writing a personal mission statement is a powerful way to process and gain clarity on your purpose and calling in life. Many of us work in organizations with Mission Statements. But a personal one is equally powerful in your own life. As a visual reminder that you review often, it helps prioritize your time management and decision making. It is a powerful tool to prevent burnout by being able to say no to requests that are outside your area of calling.
Your personal mission statement should arise from your life philosophy, or worldview (the grand narrative story that you see yourself in), and should be congruent (in line) with it. And as we have seen, it will be crafted out of your unique gifts and passions, and the needs you feel called to impact.
Your personal mission statement should answer the following four questions:
- What will be the centre of my life?
- What will be the character of my life?
- What will be the order of your values?
- What will be the contribution of my life?
Here is a link to a worksheet to use as you begin to craft your own mission statement.
“A personal mission statement becomes the DNA for every other decision we make.”
Stephen R. Covey
Compassionately,
