Do not ask yourself what the world needs. But ask yourself what makes you come alive, and go do that. What the world needs is people who have come alive. -from “Dare to Desire” by John Eldredge
How alive are you? Are you alive with passion and zeal? Or, are you dying, overloaded with burdens and worries? Are you soaring while living out your own script, or are you barely getting by while living out someone else’s script for your life?
There will be seasons in our life where it is all we can do just to exist, but if those seasons turn into a lifetime, or if we feel there just seems to be something missing, we need to ask ourselves the question “What make us come alive?” For it is the answer to that question that will turn our deadness into life.
Each of us has our own answer to that question—for there is no other you. Your personality, your skills, your traits are all a part of you for a reason, for a purpose that no one else can fulfill. And that purpose is related to what makes you come alive.
How do you find the very things that stir your soul? Let me suggest several ways to start exploring what makes you come alive.
What movies do you never tire of watching? Watch them again. Think about why you like them. What is it about the story, about the characters that draw you in? Adventure? Relationships? Strong personality? Truth? Explore what it is, for that will tell you a lot about what makes you come alive.
Or, re-read your favorite books. What is it that you like about the story, or the topic? What attracts you to the book again and again?
Or, who are the people you most admire? Why? What is it about them that you respect or that you want to be like?
As you begin to explore your likes and dislikes, you’ll begin to discover your purpose, that very thing that makes you come alive. May each of us find that purpose so that we can be people that are truly alive.
17/04/2009 at 11:43 am Permalink
To be alive… personally… not just someone else… that is a gift, not only to you but to the world around you. It is that place where you thrive and touch the world around you. It is the place where your soul soars with purpose and fulfillment. It is the place where you are truly yourself.
I think that is a very sacred place, because it is the place where your design interacts with life itself, with the God of the universe. Just as the stars were placed in the universe to bring light and beauty and wonder and awe in the night, so we bring light and beauty and wonder and awe into the universe that we walk in when we are alive.
Having gone through time of not “feeling” alive has made me so aware of the gift that I had before — when I could feel every fiber of the air around me and drink it in as clear cool water and then splash it on all those around me. So now I am on a journey to discover the things that “stir my soul”. The other day I read this verse: “Go, eat your food with gladness, and drink your wine with a joyful heart, for it is NOW that God favors what you do.” Ecclesiastics 9:7
Thanks for the encouragement to find ourselves “alive” once again… and in each season of life that may look as different as the tree in winter is from the tree in the spring, or the summer or the fall… but it is still “alive”!
22/04/2009 at 12:23 pm Permalink
Carma and Brenda, I have enjoyed reading the things you have written. It is all very true and inspirational. I think it is very good to spend a lot of time doing the things that make us feel alive. But the idea is just coming to me that people probably confuse feeling alive with feeling comfortable. Since I have gotten older, I have become increasingly willing to step out of my current comfort zone to try new things, things that might seem uncomfortable and scary at first. I think there is a whole lot of life outside of our comfort zones, things that might be the things that make us feel most fully alive, but we don´t know it because we haven´t been willing to give something new a try. I remember one winter, after I had gone with Glenn to take Shiloh sledding, I was telling people about the experience. I said, “I went down the hill myself several times, which is not the kind of thing I usually enjoy. But it was great! Anymore I try not to miss out on opportunities to do something crazy.” ¡Feliz miercoles! Nos vemos pronto.