Episode 20 - Finding Meaning and Purpose: Definition, JP2, and General Vocation

This is a big topic!

We need purpose and meaning. Think about times when you’ve felt that your actions had no meaning or purpose. Yikes. Well-being requires a sense of purpose and meaning.

Fortunately, as Christians, we have strong spiritual resources that help us find that. The SPIRITUAL realm of our being does not always percolate down into our day-to-day moments, however. We also have MENTAL and EMOTIONAL realms of life and are PHYSICAL beings connected to others SOCIALLY in an ENVIRONMENT.

All of those realities impact us in a big way.

The Meaning and Purpose question often pops up around midlife. It’s pretty common. There are a few reasons for this. One reason is that our life’s roles are often shifting around midlife. Another reason is that your values are starting to shift. At midlife, you’ve earned some wisdom and it’s natural for you to want to make some course corrections. You want to look back in 10 or 20 years and not have regrets about the choices you are making now.

Here’s the definition of purpose that we are working with, from Richard Leider:

Purpose is that deepest belief within us, where we have a profound sense of who we are, where we came from, what we're here to do, and where we are going. It's a source of deep vitality and vision.

(We added the words “where we are going”).

Purpose creates a unique kind of energy and vision in our lives.

Humans have a general vocational purpose: it’s to be image bearers. We are made in the image of God. We are image-of-God bearers.

John Paull II writes of a transformation of the world: that is a call to stewardship of creation. It’s part of the human vocation described in Genesis wherein humanity is made in the image of God and is given dominion. Adam is made in the image of God. God’s dominion is wise. As a steward of vocation, Adam is reflecting God’s image into creation. God made humans. Humans reflect him into creation.

So part of being in Christ means we're in this kingdom with Christ and we're living this vocation of worship and stewardship that the spirit makes possible.

A question I like is: How am I bringing about the restoration of the kingdom? What's the bit of the kingdom that I am working to transform. What’s my part? What is my purpose? What am I bringing to the party?

The kingdom is big: it’s the whole world! It’s the entirety of human endeavor. There’s many ways to bring about restoration. Talk about a target-rich environment!

Purpose and meaning operate at many different levels in life. There’s the moment to moment. There are short term and long term. There are ultimate and also secondary purposes. Big and small. Personal and communal. There’s the realms of the spiritual, the mental, and emotional.

Having a sense of how you are carrying out your general vocation is part of that picture.

We have much more to share and discuss on this topic! Glad you can be here with you today.

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