Understanding your purpose has consequences. Taking a stand can be dangerous.
Today, we honor a man who was driven by this purpose to “love your neighbor as yourself.” And there were those who did not like his view of who was his “neighbor.” The story of the Good Samaritan continues to be lost on some whose view of others is screened with elitist lenses. Personal purpose that has practical value is focused on others, not self.
In his book, Strength in Love, King said, “The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy. The true neighbor [emphasis added] will risk his position, his prestige and even his life for the welfare of others.”
Purpose shapes us. As Harvard professor Christensen points out in his recent article in the Harvard Business Review (and edited and reprinted in the February 2011 Reader’s Digest) the struggle to find purpose should dominate our lives until it is settled in our souls.
Why? All the stuff we do, if not focused on fulfilling purpose, is just “stuff we do” and sometimes that stuff becomes expedient (to the point of living in the gray areas of ethics and laws), hurtful to others, or just plainly wrong.
You want to live of life of meaning? Understand your purpose.
Copyright ©2011 by P. Griffith Lindell
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