Three Places to Find What You Were Made For

For centuries, the thymus, a small organ just above the heart, was considered useless. One of the scientists who finally discovered its job described it as "an organ in search of a function." Its purpose was there the whole time. It just hadn't been found yet.

I believe the same is true of us. Purpose isn't something we have to invent from nothing. It's something we discover. And when we know what we're for, healing has somewhere to go. Here's how to start looking for yours, in three places: your design, your lived experience, and what God has said.

Step 1: Read your design

Your body tells the truth about what it was built to do. Take a few minutes and write down what your body and mind do well, without effort. For example:

- Hands that are steady, skilled or gentle.

- A voice that calms people, or one that carries a room.

- Stamina for long, physical days.

- A mind that sees patterns, solves problems or remembers details.

- A sensitivity that notices when someone is hurting.

Then ask the other side of the question: what do I wither without? Touch? Meaningful work? Time outdoors? Movement? Quiet? Creating something? What we suffer without tells us a great deal about what we were made for.

Step 2: Trace your threads

Look back over your whole life and ask: when did I feel most like myself? Not happiest, necessarily. Most like myself.

Look for the threads that keep showing up:

- What you loved to play as a child.

- The jobs or roles you'd do again in a heartbeat.

- What you do with a free afternoon when no one is asking anything of you.

- The problems people bring to you, again and again.

Write down three or four. Notice what they have in common. Purpose usually leaves a trail.

Step 3: Notice your body's yes and no

This week, pay attention to what your body does as you move through your days. When does your energy rise? When do you feel a lift in your chest, or lose track of time? And when do you feel your shoulders tighten, your stomach knot or your energy go flat?

Joy and satisfaction often signal that we're moving in the direction we were made for. Frustration and heaviness often signal that we're pushing against the grain. Jot down a word or two each evening. By the end of the week, you'll start to see a pattern.

Step 4: Ask the people who know you

Sometimes the people who love us see our gifts more clearly than we do. Choose two or three people you trust and ask them one question: "When have you seen me at my best?"

Listen without arguing. When several people tell you the same thing, it's worth taking seriously.

Step 5: Listen for what God has said

The apostle Paul wrote, "For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them." Our purpose came first. We get to walk into it.

Make room to listen, through Scripture, through prayer and through quiet. The answer rarely comes as a voice from the sky. More often it's a pull that won't go away, a door that opens, or a deep peace when we make the right choice.

Step 6: Look for where they line up

Lay everything side by side: your design, your threads, your body's yes and no, what others see, and what you sense God saying. Where do they point the same way? That's your next step.

You don't need the whole map. We know in part, and that's enough to begin. Purpose also unfolds in seasons. What we're for at twenty-five may look different at forty-five or seventy. It's never too late, and a hard season is often the doorway to the next part.

A practice for today

Take one step from this list today. Then finish this sentence and keep it where you'll see it: "I come most alive when I..."

Words to Carry

- I was made on purpose.

- My purpose is discovered, not invented.

- My body tells the truth about how I was made.

- I know in part, and that's enough to take the next step.

- It's never too late to walk into what I was made for.

Tomorrow, we ask what being well really looks like.

With you every step of the way,

Dr. Jocelyn

References

Miller, J. F. A. P. (2014). Revisiting thymus function. Frontiers in Immunology, 5, 411. https://doi.org/10.3389/fimmu.2014.00411