Purpose: More Than Just a Cliché
There is often the misconception that we are each born and designed with one purpose, that we have to understand what it is and then achieve it. But, what does it really mean to have a life calling, is there just one thing that we are intended for and is purpose the sole bearer of fulfilment in life?
Media Outlet: Design Scene Magazine
Photography: Andrew Stinson
Model: Cate Underwood
Styling: Jèss Monterde
Hair: Clara Leonard
Make-Up: Deanna Melluso
Producer: Sheri Chiu
‘Finding our calling’ in life has become a sort of catchphrase that has been repeated so often it’s lost its meaning. Knowing the fundamental reason for our life has become something of the utmost importance. If we don’t know the answer, we can often feel lost and disoriented. But, perhaps, we don’t need to.
Purpose is Multi-Faceted
One definition of purpose is someone’s intention or objective. Our culture has adopted this definition that purpose is a goal, which encourages us to view our personal role in life as something to conquer. But T. D. Jakes, a pastor and author, teaches that purpose isn’t a destination. The thing we view as our purpose ‘might in fact… be the transportation that brings you into that thing you were created to do’, or, in other words, is the middleman. It’s naive to think that we can absolutely know our life’s calling, that when we feel we have completed it, we have nothing else to give and that purpose doesn’t evolve.
According to a pastor Steven Furtick, ‘it’s a cultural concept to have to find your calling’ and there is no such thing as having one purpose in life. The key to being true to our purpose is showing up for the season we’re in right now. Sometimes, being called to be a mum simply looks like the responsibility of a positive pregnancy test, or the calling to be Managing Director looks like a successful job application. Purpose is the journey as much as it is the target.
‘The key to being true to our purpose is showing up for the season we’re in right now.’
Purpose Can Be Painful
People can be born with all sorts of incredible talents from Beyoncé voices to natural gymnastic skills like Simone Biles who discovered hers at only age six. But the reason for our lives isn’t always packaged so nicely. Truthfully, we can get so caught up in the talents we are born with that when things start to go wrong, we can break. But, ‘just because things aren’t going the way you planned, it doesn’t mean they’re not going the way they should’ (Christine Caine). Obstacles don’t mean that you have lost your life’s purpose.
In fact, pain can birth the most beautiful callings in our lives. Losing a loved one to mental health can initiate charities and injustice can be the catalyst for initiatives and governmental change that impacts history forever. Part of the model Ashley Graham’s journey to reshape the fashion industry with body inclusivity was being ‘chased round the kitchen with a butcher’s knife’ by a man determined to shame her body. This moment was painful but it didn’t defeat her. It was actually a turning point in her life that fuelled her purpose to insight change.
An organisation that has touched me personally is the charity People Hope, which is an online and global community created for those struggling with chronic illnesses. The founder, Anna Kowlessar, could only have created such an empowering initiative because she battled her own chronic illness. There are countless stories of how pain can birth purpose and positive change. Our ideas of what gives our life meaning is often so much more carefree and smaller than what is actually planned for us.
‘Obstacles don’t mean you we have lost your life’s purpose… pain can birth the most beautiful callings in our lives.’
Purpose Is By Design
A second definition of purpose is the reason for which something or someone exists. From a faith perspective, when you believe that God created you for a reason, purpose takes on a new meaning. It becomes not just about you but also about God’s plan for your life and how you can positively impact others.
Priscilla Shirer, author and actress, draws attention to how having Christian faith can impact our understanding of purpose. ‘Even Jesus - who (unlike us) could do everything - did not do everything. He only did the things assigned to Him… that was His alone to complete’. Jesus’s life shows us that we have a spiritually assigned purpose that goes against the societal pressure to ‘do everything’ and discovering that calling can be positively life-changing.
However, the church can also skew the meaning of purpose. ‘Many of our cultural concepts of calling are really just self-help, individualistic, ambition orientated delusions dressed up in Christian clichés’ (Steven Furtick). Instead of living a life in relationship with God, we live a life desperately focused on what plan He has given us. If we’re not careful, we can ‘want God to be a resource who is more like Siri than he is like’ God. It’s important to remember that discovering and executing our purpose isn’t just about us. Wanting our desires for our life to come from God gives us a purpose that is beyond our own wishes and is, in turn, more meaningful.
Purpose Doesn’t Have To Define You
If we’re not careful, our purpose or calling in life can be used as the foundation for our identity. Isn’t it true that when we introduce ourselves, we often lead with our career title? We can begin to identify ourselves solely by what we do rather than who we are. And then what happens if or when we can longer do what we do?
Remember that ‘because God’s grace covers you… you don’t have to try so hard. You can rest’ in who you are and your purpose will follow (Selena Gomez). It’s undeniably true that finding our purpose and leaning into it brings great joy not just for us but also for the people that it impacts. But, first and foremost, our value isn’t in whether we know our purpose, whether we are pursuing it or whether we have achieved it. It is rooted in the truth that we are enough.
WORDS BY
Charlotte Paradise
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