In the last 24 hours, Thomas caught a stomach bug. In case you don’t know, he’s the adorable 7 year old we’re in the process of adopting. In the middle of the night when he was sick and pitiful, I was so thankful that he had someone there to care for him while he was sick.
It was pretty. There were ten loads of laundry to be done the next day. But mothering him is a huge part of my purpose right now.
In the daily grind, it’s easy to lose our footing, to forget what’s at stake, to fail to see the MAGIC of the everyday, even the magic of sick days.
We think that our purpose is somewhere OUT THERE.
And when we do that, we forget the sacred calling we’ve been given—to cultivate beauty and meaning and purpose right where we are. Even when where we are is on the sofa in the middle of the night with a sick child.
Here are the three myths that might be keeping you (HER!) stuck.
Myth #1 – There is only one calling
Have ever believed that this is true about your calling or your purpose or the meaning in your life? That there’s only one? You start to wonder if you’ve found it yet. It’s easy to wonder in the middle of sickness if this is what I’m called to do.
We start to asking ourselves, “Am I living my calling right now? Have I ever lived it? Is it here? Is it this job? Is it this current place I am in life?”
I think we all feel like it should be one grand thing.
I am here to tell you that it’s really not one thing. It changes over time.
Your calling is right where you are and that changes over time. You live your purpose by how you decide to show up right where you are.
When we feel like our calling is just one thing and we haven’t quite gotten there yet, it sabotages us from living our actual lives right now, right here, today. In the season I am here, a huge part of my calling is walking a 7 year old through a hard road of loss and adoption. And the occasional stomach virus. It’s not glamorous, but it’s so important.
Myth #2 – My calling is somewhere out there
A lot of us think—
“When I get this degree..”
“When I marry the right person that I’m supposed to marry...”
“When I have all the right children that I’m supposed to have…
“When I get that one house that I’m supposed to have…”
When I have all of that, then I’ll be living my purpose.
My life will really have meaning.
Not true. Your life will have meaning when you decide it will
It will never be that job. It will never be when you’re in those perfect circumstances. It will never be there—because you’ll just take YOU with you, and until you learn how to show up to your actual life today with purpose and meaning, you won’t show up THERE with purpose and meaning either. (wherever THERE is)
The work to do is always today.
The work to do is to ask yourself, “What am I doing right now, today, to serve the people that are right in front of me?
How am I fulfilling my purpose by showing up with intention for the people that are right in front of me?”
Your calling will never be out there.
Those perfect circumstances are not coming.
Our calling is not some mystical thing that’s off in the distance that we never can quite get to.
It’s not a place we arrive at—and when we think it is, that thinking really does hinder us from just showing up to our actual life right now TODAY.
When I acknowledge that what I’m doing has eternal significance and a sacredness to it, the way I show up changes. What I’m doing is not just the laundry or making lunch, but it’s actually serving the humans that God put in my life.
When you decide on purpose, how to think about your life and calling, it won’t matter what the job is, or what the circumstances are. It won’t even matter what education level you have, because you have just DECIDED that this is how you show up to your life.
You show up to love and serve the people in front of you. You show up to take care of yourself, and to take care of your family, or to take care of the people right in front of you.
Myth #3 – When I’m living in my perfect calling, things will be easy
I am 100% for sure that I’m living in my purpose. Still, my life is full of trials.
It’s hard sometimes. It’s full of heartache. It’s full of things that that didn’t go the way I expected. It’s full of failure.
When you really step into using your gifts, life will get more meaningful but also more full of difficulty. But what I also notice is that when I do my work mindful of the meaning and purpose it has, it is so motivating.
I wake up everyday before 5am. Some days, I want to stay in bed. But the work I do is so motivating to me because I do it with so much intention and purpose.
I love to help women show up to their own lives the same way—with fire and passion.
And when you do that, you’ll be so motivated to live your life—no matter what your job is, because you know that you’re the one who brings intention and awareness and purpose and meaning. And when things get hard, you won’t even think about quitting, because you know what you do is important to someone.
If you’re living in those three myths right now and you’re waiting for some magical moment or some magical thing to happen in order for you to step into your purpose— it’s not coming.
You BRING THE PURPOSE.
You BRING THE MAGIC.
When you decide to show up with fire to your life, that’s when the magic happens.
I hope this has given you a little fuel for thought, a little shot in the arm today for how you want to show up to your life.
I heard you say this on a podcast a few months ago, “you bring the purpose,” and honestly, this was the wisdom I spent the entire decade of my thirties searching for! I read all the books and struggled through so many years of anxiety over what is my purpose. This small truth changed everything! I wish I could have learned it sooner!
It’s not necessarily about grand achievements or slope external accolades, but about our meaningful connections and contributions in our immediate surroundings.
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