Talk About “PURPOSE”

What better example than Jesus’ life to explain about having a life’s
purpose? No other example I can think of, can you?

From the moment he was born--wait, hold up…BEFORE he was born, His
purpose was already established. And so was yours.

Jesus was born to the exact parents He needed to be born to, in order
for him to fulfill his life’s purpose, and so were you.

Mary was a virgin. Just so happened, she was about to be married.
Coincidence? I think not.

Nowadays, things are a lot different than they were back then. And some
people, or should I say, society as a whole, no longer frowns on woman
who have children out of wedlock. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying
that women didn’t get pregnant before they were married back-in-the-day,
but most of the time it resulted in a gunshot wedding.

Mary didn’t have to have one of those because she was already planning
her wedding when she became pregnant. There are no such things as
coincidences.

Mary was also a direct descendent of Abraham. Coincidence? I think not.

Now, when Joseph found out that Mary was pregnant, like any other man,
he got mad and started not to marry her. I can see it now. Picture this:
Mary calls Joseph (or wait, no phones yet), Mary goes to see Joseph and
tells him she has something really important she has to tell him. She’s
a little nervous because she can’t imagine what he is going to say. She
finally gets up the nerve and says, “Uhm, Joe, uhm, (fake smile) guess
what? I’m pregnant.” (Can you imagine that?)

Not too many people, or at least not the brothers I know, would have
ever believed that story. OK, I’m laughing right now because I just got
a visual of my husband. If I had said something like that to him, he
would have first, gave me that look. Then he would have said, ‘wait, how
is that possible? I’ve never even touched you.’ Then, if I would have
started explaining that I was pregnant by God…

But an angel spoke to Joseph and explained the situation, so Joseph was
cool with it real fast and never questioned it again. Joseph was the
right earthly father for Jesus.

When Jesus was 12 years old, around the age when most of us first start
to experience our first taste of independence—he found himself
mentors—people who could teach him what he needed to know about the word
of God.

This is exactly what we need to do to develop our craft, our skill, and
our purpose. Find yourself a mentor. Someone who is doing exactly what
it is that you want to do and ask them questions; offer to help out so
that you may learn. You aren’t born knowing everything, but there are
others out there that know what you need to know. Go where they are. Ask
them questions. Find out what they know. Research--until the student
becomes the teacher, the same way Jesus did.

There really isn’t any information available to us about what was going
on in Jesus’ life between the ages of 12 and 30. I’d venture to say that
he was just like all of us. He was finding himself.

Oh, I’m not suggesting that he didn’t know His purpose but it wasn’t
until the age of 30 that he started living His life’s purpose
completely. I think this is important. I personally believe that before
you reach the age of 30, you haven’t fully matured. I know it was that
way for me. During your teen years you are just learning a little about
yourself. During your twenties, you are finally learning about what it
means to be completely independent of your parents—you are now on your
own. By the time you are 30, you are generally through with the hanging
out, having no direction in life and are ready to start taking life
seriously. This is usually around the time when you start to think, “Why
am I here? What is the meaning of life? What is my purpose?”

There are exceptions and some people find themselves a lot earlier in
life—I’m not one of them.

Once Jesus was certain of his purpose and armed with the knowledge he
needed, he took the world by storm. For three years he spent all of his
life living his purpose. He never worried about whether or not his
purpose was the right purpose for him. Whenever he needed guidance, he
prayed. He didn’t worry about whether or not he was “big” enough to
handle his life’s purpose. He didn’t worry about whether or not it was
paying the right salary or whether he would make enough to eat or buy
the clothes that he liked. As a matter of fact, he told his disciples
not to worry about what they would eat or where they would sleep. He
even told them not to worry about what they would have to say when the
time came for them to talk. God would take care of all of that. He knew
his purpose and knew, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that everything was
going to work exactly the way it was designed to work.

Even down to his selection of his disciples. He knew exactly whom he was
going to select to be a part of his team and why. He went along and
developed a crew. He knew exactly whom he needed in his posse and they
knew it too. Not one person said, ‘oh, no I can’t do that, Jesus. This
sounds good and all that, but fishing is how I make a living, regardless
if I enjoy it or not, my family has got to be fed. I don’t know what’s
going to happen if I come and follow you. I got this thing going on
already and your thing just doesn’t seem all that stable to me. What
will my friends and family think? How am I going to make a living?’

They didn’t say any of these things. They realized their purpose and
when the opportunity came around, they leaped at it and never looked
back.

Are you ready to take that leap? Are you prepared to start living your
life’s purpose? All you need to do it is faith. So long as you believe
with all your heart that God will provide, He will.

At anytime you can walk away from the dead end job that you know is
causing you ulcers and stress. BUT, just like Jesus, you have to be
prepared. You will have to learn all that you can about your craft, your
skills and your passions. All it takes is some action. Instead of
wanting to be like Mike (do people still say that?), design your life
after Jesus. There’s no better person to pattern your life after than
him.

Find your purpose and start living your life with passion, excitement
and faith. You can do it. I know you can because you were born a winner.

Dawn Fields is a motivational speaker, author and coach. She has an amazing way of reaching you with her down-to-earth style and her ability to make the impossible seem possible. Sign up for her FREE weekly newsletter by sending a blank email to mailto:yourlifespurpose-subscribe@topica.com.