3 Steps to Find Purpose in Your Prime
“Three things are necessary for the salvation of man: to know what he ought to believe; to know what he ought to desire; and to know what he ought to do."
Thomas Aquinas, written in 1273
purpose [ pur-puhs ] noun
- the reason for which something exists or is done, made, used, etc.
- an intended or desired result; end; aim; goal.
- determination; resoluteness. (dictionary.com)
As we reflect on our life, we ask “why do I exist?” It’s a question that individuals have asked throughout history and how we answer, will determine our future.
Purpose is a word that we hear often, but how we understand it and implement it into our life is one of the most significant work we can do to catapult our life’s journey. You are correct. I said work. There is work involved in order to understand and live into your calling.
How do you figure out the purpose for your life? You see, as we move into the middle and later years of our life, we come to stop and to reflect. Not long after we stop to think for a minute, we realize that indeed our days are numbered and we want each one to count for something. We think about the legacy that we will leave and how our one solitary life has had an impact on the world.
Often, we talk about the need to know the purpose for our life, but the reality is how do we actually know what our purpose is and how do we live that out. How do we put our calling into practice? How do we go about finding our purpose?
Here are three very practical ways to not only find your purpose, but also learn to live out that calling in everyday life.
1. Discover. The first thing that an individual needs to do in order to live into their purpose is discover who God has created them to be. To understand your spiritual gifts, your strength, your personality, your experiences, your skills, and all of the other idiosyncrasies that make up you is an important part of the process to fulfill your purpose.
Why is it significant to understand how God has created us? The more we know about ourselves, the more of us we are able to surrender to God and be a part of His mission here on earth. Once we say “yes” to Jesus and become a Christ follower, we enter into a partnership with God. We are quite literally, “On a mission with God.” But until we identify our gifts and graces, we are participating in that great mission like a shot in the dark. We don’t really have anything to aim towards and therefore will not be as effective as we need to be.
2. Design. Once you have uncovered your unique self, the next step is to begin to design your life very intentionally moving forward. All of those discoveries we found during the first phase will help you to live a life that maximizes not only your gifts, but the impact that you can make on the world.
But the important point to remember is that is doesn’t happen automatically; we have to be intentional about living out our calling. As we begin to live on purpose, we shift our day-to-day activities from being reactive, to being proactive. We move from a position of defense to defense. We begin to utilize our findings as a filter to help us to make everyday decisions on how we invest our time.
The idea of intentionally designing our life is even more important that budgeting our finances. We can always make more money, but we can’t ever recover time that is wasted and lost forever.
3. Deploy. Once you have discovered everything about you as an individual, and then designed a life that goes into that purpose, then the third step in the process is to actually live it out. As a believer every part of our life is seeking to impact the kingdom. As a Christian we want to live out our calling in everyday life as we join God in His mission.
What does a life that is fully deployed to live out our purpose? It looks like we are utilizing who we are to make a difference in the world. It looks like we are living on purpose. It looks like we are moving forward in a direction that brings us fully into making a Kingdom contribution.
Purpose in Your Prime helps Christian women over in midlife discover their purpose for the next season life by gaining clarity and direction, culminating in an actionable plan for Kingdom contribution.
