Good morning! What a gift it is to wake up, get up, and get out! You have been given this day on purpose, so what are you going to do with it? Last week our thought for the week was centered on the concept that you were not born accidentally and within that plan each of us has a purpose to fulfill. Hence "you were born on purpose for a purpose". As I went through the week, I started thinking about those that read the blog and thought to themselves, "I hope others find their purpose, because I have found mine and I am living it right now." That's great, but just like the children's book "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie", if you give Chuck a purpose he's going to want to extend it and expand it! Guess what, just because you feel like you have found your purpose in life, or maybe you met a need years ago and you feel like you fulfilled your purpose back then, you're not off the hook. Our purpose is multi-faceted, it is ongoing, it is continual and it is our job to keep looking for ways to fulfill our purpose over and over again.
It's easy to sit back and say, I have found my life's purpose and all I need to do now is put this thing on cruise control and just keep on doing what I am doing. I don't want to live my life that way. I'm not content sitting down, and I'm not comfortable thinking I don't have things to accomplish and work to complete.
I have set goals, I have reached goals, but the key to that is you can't stop after you reach your goal in life, you have to set new ones. Graduating college was a goal, becoming a teacher was a milestone, finishing my graduate degrees was a dream, and becoming a principal may have been viewed as reaching a pinnacle, but as much as I loved my position as an administrative leader I didn't feel like I could place a period on this life I'm fortunate enough to be living. At each step along my professional journey I feel like I have fulfilled a purpose I certainly feel like I am currently in a position to help others which is what a servant leader does. I could have very well convinced myself that I was right where I was supposed to be and just kept right on doing what I was doing at an earlier juncture of life, but I don't think we were made to just sit still, you know that whole idea of perpetual motion.
If you are doing something good then by golly it's time you spread it and extend it. If your purpose in life is leadership then you should increase your capacity to lead and the number of people you lead. Once you decide to extend your purpose in life, leadership in this example, then you need to hone your skill set. Further your education, volunteer to serve so you can become more of a servant leader, or seek out an idea and move it from the planning table to the implementation platform. If you want to lead it's hard to do it sitting still.
Servant leadership is what my purpose in life centers around, take the above template for extending my leadership and replace it with what you think is your purpose in life. Teaching, sharing, giving, caring, helping, whatever it is you have a purpose that you are fulfilling. Know how can you extend your reach? What can you do that will impact more people in a positive manner? What can you do to move from the stationary bike to the mountain bike? Boats weren't built to sit in the harbor!
If you have found your purpose in life that is awesome. Just don't think you're off the hook because you feel like you found your purpose and now you're just living the dream. If you have found your purpose it's about time you start looking for ways to expand it and impact more people with your gifts and talents. Life isn't about getting a trophy and sitting it on the shelf to admire, rather it's more like obtaining a match and after striking it, you set a small patch of tinder on fire, which in turn lights some twigs, and from there ignites a bonfire. Don't ever get complacent and don't ever think you are done! Light a fire and let it shine! "Let your light shine in front of men. Then they will see the good things you do and will honor your Father Who is in heaven." Matthew 5:16
As in all things, to God be the glory. Amen.
Coach Carter
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