Living and Working on Purpose: Finding God's Calling for Your Life - Part 2In this, the second of a series of articles, we continue our theme of understanding and living God's special purpose and calling for your life. In Part One, we discussed Step 1: Discerning and Discovering your unique life purpose. Since reading Part One of the series, I hope you worked on Step 1 and have begun to prayerfully consider what your gifts, talents and passions are as well as how they align with the deep needs in your world and community. In this article, we will focus on Step 2: Your Life Purpose Foundation. Are you ready? Let's go! The Purpose Steps Step 2: Your Life Purpose Foundation What is my "Life Purpose Foundation"? Imagine you are building a new home. Most likely, one of the first things you do is identify a floor plan, or blueprint, for the home you would like to build. As you identify the "right" blueprint, you would probably consider what your needs are (for example, how many bedrooms and bathrooms you need, how many square feet you would like, etc.). When it comes to building your life of purpose, your life vision (what we discussed in last month's newsletter) is your blueprint. Your life vision has taken into account what the needs of the world are, what your gifts and talents are, and what "could" and "should" be as you live the life God has created you to live. Do you have the blueprint? If so, we are about to start construction! The first step in any good construction project is beginning with a firm, strong foundation on which to build the house. In co-creating (with God) the life He created you to lead, it's important to start with a strong foundation as well. I call this your "Life Purpose Foundation". It is the structural basis on which you build your exceptional life. Your life purpose foundation includes important life components such as:
It is critical that this strong foundation is in place before you start to execute the plan to live your life purpose. Assessing and Planning Your "Life Purpose Foundation" Just as a good builder will not take the foundation for granted, neither should you. It is well worth your time to take a good, long look at your foundation. Are the "basics" in your life taken care of? Are there things in your life that are stumbling blocks for you? Are there fundamental areas of your life you need to work on before embarking upon a bigger calling? These are the questions that are answered by assessing your foundation. To assess your life purpose foundation, it is important to take a look at major areas of your life to identify the strengths and vulnerabilities of these basic, but big, components of your foundation. The areas I recommend you review are the ones I mentioned above; your spiritual, physical, mental, and relational life. As you look at each of these key areas, make a note of the specifics of these areas that are strong and the specific areas that need strengthening. Once this is complete, you will have a clear picture of what you might want to focus on strengthening before moving forward. To help you assess your foundation, I have created a tool for you to use. It is available free of charge on the Resource Portal of my website. This program will not only help you assess vulnerabilities to your foundation but will provide an easy tool to help you plan and keep track of the improvements you want to make. This Month's Fieldwork This month, please consider focusing on your life purpose foundation. Use the tool I created for you to take the inventory of strengths and vulnerabilities in your own foundation. Then, create a plan to work on the areas that are not as strong in your life. Next month (with our foundation firmly in place), we will begin the joyful work of creating and living God's purpose for our lives. Watch for Part 3 of this series where we will begin the next step of our purpose journey. |