We tend to think of our life’s purpose as this grand, overarching thing guiding everything we do.
We think, “Oh, I was put on Earth for this!”
And what is this?
Usually a large, guiding, purpose—to grow this business, raise these kids, write those books, solve my community’s housing problem, or be the company's CEO.
Or—on the opposite end—we fail to see our life as connected to a larger purpose at all. Forget big, grand dreams. We’re just trying to find a decent job that we don’t hate — is that too much to ask? Questions of a larger purpose don’t seem unattainable, they’re simply irrelevant.
Here’s my thought.
What if our purposes aren’t always as grand as we think they should be?
What if — sometimes or most times—they’re surprisingly small?
Small, that is, by human standards.
Small purpose, big God
God’s purpose for your life may not be to start a business or launch a global ministry but to love your family really well.
He may be calling you simply to be you —in all of your beautiful quirks and unique gifts — in a particular place and a particular time because in ways you will never realize you’ll make an impact how only you can.
Your setbacks, disappointments, losses, and failures could be a part of God’s larger purpose for your life because he’s using them to mold you into a particular kind of person. A person who, one day, can uniquely minister to others.
In fact, so much of what’s happening in your life may be preparing you for a life-giving impact on one person.
One person who needs to hear what only you can say at just the right time, in just the right place, in just the right way.
And God, in his sovereign kindness, is preparing both parties for this encounter.
A mustard seed purpose
If this is the case for you or me, then our lives will not be wasted.
Our purposes might seem small, but that’s how the biggest things usually are in God’s kingdom.
To be used by the King of Kings to minister his holy touch in the lives of one soul is the highest honor.
Maybe our purpose is like a mustard seed that we plant in the life of another which one day grows into the tallest tree in the Kingdom of God.
In looking for a larger purpose in your life, don’t look for the towering trees, look for the mustard seed.