Your destiny is your mission. What is your calling? What, at the end of earthly life, will you be asked about, will you be told was a key reason for your being here?

How do we tell what it may be?

"One of the processes that is most helpful is to start to notice those things that you do that you're passionate about that spark your creativity, those things that you get energy from when you do them and you find fulfillment in doing, not in getting paid for it but simply in doing it," says one preacher. "Those things that we do that put us in that kind of environment are our natural, most organic habitat that make us most effective in our careers, entrepreneurial pursuits, our friendships and lives. So many people don't do that. We spend so much time doing what we have to do and not enough time doing what we were created to do."   

Be natural. Be who you are. Unleash, as he says, your "inborn drive." If you have a gift, this is your clue. Really, we all do; we need only to recognize it.

What do you love doing? What comes most naturally? What brings inspiration? What energizes you (and conversely: what causes you fatigue)? Your heart holds the secret. You may find your mission through "accidents," through chance meetings, through the words of others, through a "trauma," through something that falls out of the blue, or something that has always been there in front of you -- something you are doing but not quite with the right spirit.

A mission can be so many things -- and more than one. It can be "simple" motherhood. What greater calling? This was the mission of the Blessed Mother. It can be in the medical profession (when the motive is not money). It can be plumbing, or carpentry -- assisting others, helping folks live. It can be farming. It can be evangelism. It can be teaching (for certain), or it can be helping the homebound -- also without question. It can be prayer -- simply praying for others. It can be music, or yard work, or cooking, when done with praise to God. Anything that serves to better all life and things can be part of your mission -- a supermarket clerk, smiling at customers; a landscaper, praying for the world around him; a school janitor, blessing kids; a mayor; a policeman, keeping evil at bay.

Only in prayer to the Holy Spirit can we discern the direction we should take and how we should approach our jobs. You may be doing the right job but in the wrong way. Almost anything that does not lead to sin can be used to help others -- if done right, which means for the glory of God. No matter how old we are, and even if we have no idea what it could be, we have a mission to complete as long as we're alive.

Look at Acts 20: "Yet I consider life of no importance to me, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to bear witness to the Gospel of God’s Grace."

Go with your instincts. Be more aware of what your instincts are. What leads you to joy? What causes you to feel content? What seems worthwhile? What brings peace? Is there spiritual baggage in your family that binds you and holds you back?

Perhaps nothing interferes more than a sole orientation toward money, which has caused so many to do what they think they should do instead of what they feel they should be doing; what God wants done. When we do what God wants, money is there when we need it. He sends us sustenance. If there is a lot of it, it may be a gift we can use to aid others.

What helps someone or something in some way? Ask the Holy Spirit.

It is through the portal of your heart that you will enter eternity.

[Note also: Michael Brown retreats: Philadelphia-New Jersey and Connecticut!]

[Michael Brown's books]

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