What's Really the Goal Here?

What a week. I cannot even begin to tell you. My sleeping habits are off. My diet is off. The weather has been beautiful but I have been blue. Right now I just want to curl up in a ball and sleep. It’s difficult to talk about a wilderness situation when you are still in the wilderness. So I’ll wait until I emerge. Maybe then I’ll have some perspective.


What I do want to discuss are goals. Several years ago I bought The Purpose Driven Life (TPDL) because I thought it would magically reveal to me what my purpose was. I quickly discovered that the book was designed to reveal to me what my purpose WAS NOT. My purpose is not to strive for material gain. My purpose is not to even strive for personal satisfaction. My purpose is supposed to be to live a life that is pleasing to God. I wasn’t ready to receive anything that book had to offer at the time. So I put it to the side.

Why do we gravitate toward the quick fix? “40 days to discovering your purpose” is the promise of TPDL. Which, quite frankly, is why I bought it. I actually believed that I would have it all figured out in 40 days! This book was going to tell me if I should leave Corporate America and start a business. This book was going to tell me if I should sell my house and downsize. This book was going to tell me if I should get married again.

Wow. That’s one powerful book (insert sarcasm font). Admittedly, my expectations were completely unreasonable. I wasn’t ready for the message in TPDL. Of course, I still want the answers to those questions but I know now that I won’t find them in a book written by someone who doesn’t even know me. (Sidenote: I realize now that the book written by The One that knows me best has all the answers I’m looking for.)


Fast forward to the present and I’m reading a book called Driven by Eternity (DBE). This book discusses how our lives should not be driven by our existence on Earth but by how we want to exist once we leave Earth. The way you want to spend eternity should drive your everyday life. Our lives here on Earth are short compared to eternity. Think about that. Of course, we all want to be comfortable while we’re here. We want our journeys to be enjoyable ones but we should never lose sight of the big picture. This book is powerful and it really makes you think about the question: Are you confident in not only where you will spend eternity but HOW you will spend eternity?

I picked up TPDL again and I’m reading it in conjunction with DBE. I’m on Day 9 and I’m finding both books are giving me a better understanding as to where my focus should be. My vision needs to be wider than just the needs of me and my family. Yes, there are things I want to do, things I want to accomplish but what is really my ultimate goal here?

Stay tuned…