purpose – Upper Room Media Blogs

Discovering your Purpose

By Lilyan Andrews

Originally seen on Lilyan Andrews’ blog Liles and Thorns, 23 Oct 2020.

80,000 hours. That’s how many hours the average American works in their lifetime. That’s 40 years x 50 weeks x 40 hours (according to www.80000hours.org).

In the Egyptian community (and most other immigrant communities), those 80,000 hours were clearly defined. I’m sure you’ve heard the joke about the 4 professions you can pursue as an Egyptian:

Doctor
Lawyer
Engineer
Failure

Did our parents or grandparents come to this land of opportunity to only give us the opportunity to choose from a very narrow list of professions?

All joking aside, this standard can feel really daunting and impossible at times. You never want to spend 80,000 hours of your life working in a field chosen for you by someone else, a field that you are not convinced about. That’s a recipe for an adult nightmare.

Our families want the best for us, that is undeniable. However, the pressure they put on us to pursue a career that we are not passionate about is not something we should have to carry for the rest of our lives.

If you’re one of the lucky ones that obeyed your parents’ suggestion and ended up loving the career, then good for you! Keep on thriving! But if you’re not, that’s okay, there is always hope. Know that you are not alone and that there is always a way out. A way that can lead you to bigger and better things. Let me share with you a little bit about my journey.

I’ve changed my mind about my career more than I can count. I entered college as an architect major, but quickly saved myself and made the right move to civil engineering (architects and civil engineers have an ongoing joke about the other’s profession, I know they’ll appreciate the humor here). But on a serious note, as soon as I started working in the engineering world I was not happy. I loved what I studied in college, but I was not using it in the way I thought I would.

I know that is a heavy statement to make, but ask anyone that knew me. When people would ask how work was going, I’d answer along the lines of, “It’s good, I work for a great company, and I’m surrounded by a great team. The pay and benefits are good too. But I just don’t really feel fulfilled.” I know this may sound like a first world problem, and that I should be content with having a job in the first place. I was definitely thankful, but something felt off. I said to myself if I was going to spend half my day somewhere working on something, it better be worth it. My job had to have meaning for me, and be worthy of 80,000 hours of my life.

One day I discovered that there were people, professionals, whose job was to help you find the right career. Yes, I’m talking about career coaches. I randomly saw a Facebook post about a professional career coach. I signed up and the journey I took with Mariam was insanely eye-opening. I did a few sessions with her where I explored other careers that I was always curious about, but ended up realizing engineering was the right place for me. Luckily engineering is a huge umbrella and there are many different paths under it. I realized I had to use my skills to make a difference I could directly see. I decided on working in healthcare. I now work in a hospital where I manage construction projects that renovate or expand hospital spaces. I know my purpose there and I get to see how my work directly impacts the doctors, hospital staff, and patients. And it’s pretty darn cool!

Because of the coaching and all the self-reflection Mariam walked me through, I no longer doubt my decision or question my engineering career path. In fact, I am feeling really great about how I got to this place that it lit a little fire in me to help others who are struggling with similar things. I recently started the process to become a certified professional coach.

At the end of the day remember your real purpose, and His true will is your sanctification (1 Thessalonians 4:3). So whatever profession you end up in, what truly matters is that you are being the light of the world and are always glorifying His name.

The world may need more doctors, lawyers, and engineers, but it also needs more teachers, social workers, construction workers, IT experts, and many more professions that are sometimes overlooked by our community. God has blessed us all with different talents (1 Corinthians 12), and its our duty to use those talents (Matthew 25: 14-30).

Here are my two cents: find someone you’re good at (a.k.a your talent), fully learn it, and then apply it. When you do something you’re good at, you’re more likely to succeed, and that success will make you a happier employee. If you want to take it a step further, do something that makes a difference in the world. When you do something that has meaning to you, it will bring you that feeling of fulfillment and purpose that ultimately leaves you feeling satisfied with the work you’re doing.

Are you reading this and feeling like it’s too late for you? Maybe you’re almost done with schooling, or are even mid-career and feel like it’s too late to pursue something that ignites your passion and gives you fulfillment. Fear not my friends, because there is an Almighty force behind you. Romans 8:28 has to be one of my favorite verses. “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.” Pay attention to that last part, “called according to His purpose.” If you truly want to please God in everything you do and follow His will, no matter how things may start out, or how hard they might become, they will always work for the good.

I feel like I’m only in the beginning of seeing the wonderful things God has in store for me. It’s both exciting and nerve-racking. Where are you in your journey? Have you tasted the “good” St. Paul talks about? Or are you still wrestling for your blessings like Jacob? Wherever you are, stop and thank Him. Then ask Him for guidance and clarity.

I know how hard it is to live life with foggy vision, it’s not pleasant. Sometimes that clarity about your talents will become as clear as day all on its own by God’s grace. And sometimes you need someone to help you navigate through that fog to get to the sunshine that’s right around the corner.

(c) Lilyan Andrews (2020). Discovering your Purpose by Lilyan Andrews. Available at https://www.liliesandthorns.com/post/discovering-your-purpose

Why are you here?

by Bethany Kaldas

‘Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.’

~ Matthew 5:16

Before you start reading this, I want you to look around. Take note of where you are, who you are with, and how you got there. Keeping all that in mind, I want you to ask yourself, ‘Why am I here?’

People spend a lot of time contemplating the meaning of life. Don’t get me wrong, I’m one of them—and if you’re claiming not to be then I suspect you need your humanity revoked. But asking that huge, impersonal question of ‘Why are we (as in, all things that exist) here?’ has often proven to be a case of biting off a bit more than we can chew. Just a bit. And this has generated a lot of existential angst in those who find themselves pondering the meaning of all that is.

When faced with questions too big to swallow, it can help to ask smaller questions first. When I urged you to ask yourself why you are here, I did not want you to contemplate the meaning of your personal existence. Even this is a question possibly too big to be grappled with at the moment. I meant quite literally, why are you right here, right now?

I’m sure you can generate a wealth of obvious answers to those questions. If you’re reading this on the train, for instance, you’re here because you have somewhere to go. You’re surrounded by the people around you because they too have somewhere to go, but otherwise have no connection to you. I think I can safely say that (unless something extremely strange is happening in your life), you are fairly confident in the reason for why you are literally here, be it by choice or by chance. It is not a question we tend to give much thought to.

But is it possible that the key to that big, ultimate question of why we are here is rooted in the simple, mundane question of why you are here, in the most basic sense? Is it possible that there’s more to why you are where you are, with the people you are with (or alone, for that matter), than mere coincidence?

Let’s talk about a Biblical story we should all be familiar with: the Samaritan woman (John 4:1-40). This is a seemingly random encounter with enormous consequences. And it does seem quite random. The Samaritan woman had been gathering water (specifically at an hour when she assumed she would meet no-one) and Jesus had been on His way to Judea and was only passing through Samaria.

If you had asked the woman at the well, ‘Why are you here?’, I can imagine she probably would have said something about needing water before telling you to leave her alone. She had no idea the true purpose God was working through her apparently ordinary daily chore. In that one seemingly insignificant moment, everything changed. She saw the Saviour. She helped countless others to see Him too. And even to this day, her story aids us in meeting Him in our lives.

…But that’s different to your life, right? After all, the whole reason that moment held such magnitude was because she had met Christand not just anyoneat that well. If you’re wondering what this really has to do with you, I think Fr Alexander Schmemann expresses it perfectly in his book, Great Lent: Journey to Pascha:

‘Christian love is the “possible impossibility” to see Christ in another man, whoever he is, and whom God, in His eternal and mysterious plan, has decided to introduce into my life, be it only for a few moments, not as an occasion for a “good deed” or an exercise in philanthropy, but as the beginning of an eternal companionship in God Himself.’

When you consider this, can you ever believe that any encounter you have is truly random? That any moment you experience is merely a transition from one more important event to another? That anyone or anything in your life, anything that the world has told you is insignificant and unworthy of attention, is really without purpose

C. S. Lewis addresses this also when he speaks of friendship in The Four Loves:

‘But, for a Christian, there are, strictly speaking no chances. A secret master of ceremonies has been at work. Christ, who said to the disciples, “Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you,” can truly say to every group of Christian friends, “Ye have not chosen one another but I have chosen you for one another.” The friendship is not a reward for our discriminating and good taste in finding one another out. It is the instrument by which God reveals to each of us the beauties of others.’

There is nobody and nothing in your life who is there purely by chance, not in God’s eyes. Christ does not encounter people by accident—He always does so with purpose. And when you encounter someone in your life—anyone, whether they’re a total stranger or someone you’ve known your whole life—you are meeting Christ. And they are meeting Him too—in you.

So I want you to take a moment. Look around you again. Consider where you are, who you are with, and how you got there.

Why are you here? You are here to show Christ to the world. And maybe the answer to that simple, basic question holds the key to that massive, ultimate question. If you are here to show Christ to the world, maybe the world is here to show Christ to you.

‘Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You drink? When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or naked and clothe You? Or when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’ And the King will answer and say to them, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.’’

~ Matthew 25:37-40