Life's Purpose

Photo by Heidi Sandstrom. on Unsplash

A story goes like this. Mr. X felt mentally sick and wanted to consult a psychiatrist. When he went to meet a psychiatrist, he was asked to sit and wait for his turn as there were quite a few in the line. After a few minutes, a person came out of the consultation room after meeting the psychiatrist. Mr. X asked that person, "Where are you going?" The answer came very plain, "If only I knew where I am going, I would not have come here at all."

The moral of the story is, a person cannot be mentally healthy if they don't know where they are heading towards in life. Psychological health depends on understanding and leading a life of purpose, because purpose gives us direction. Once we understand what our life is for, then we have a clear vision of how our future should look like, and that becomes a plan. We will know what we should achieve in our whole life, in next ten years, in next three years, in the present year, or in the present month, week, and day. Such a purpose and goals provide us energy and inspiration in life. If we don't know what we have to achieve today, we many lack energy even to get up from the bed. If we don't know what we should achieve in next ten years, we may roam around aimlessly and end up wasting resources meaninglessly.

If we look at any great people the history of humankind has recognized, they all had a life of purpose. They, in one or the other way, related to the society at large and worked to solve their problems or improve their situations. Their whole lives had a purpose and goal of contributing to the betterment of humankind. Though they did not proclaim that thus was their purpose of life, it was evident in their selfless actions and struggle towards serving the needy. While Martin Luther King dedicated his life for the upliftment of downtrodden, Mother Therasa served the sick and poor, and Thomas Alva Edison used his science genius for societally oriented inventions.

All those successful in life have one thing in common to share with us. God has gifted each one of us with a unique resource. We can realize the meaning of our life by applying those resources towards achieving life's purpose. Then, is it not the time for us to think about the purpose of our lives?