By Amanda Cleary Eastep

Day 6: Finding Purpose; Give up Worthlessness [Days 1-5 below]

We are all created for a reason. We have talents to share with the world. How have you found that spending time in nature and walking combat feelings of worthlessness or idleness? Have you found your purpose in life? What does it feel like when you live in your purpose? How can being in nature and being intentional in life help others find a purpose?

I’ve been oddly obsessed with the concept of “purpose” since I was a kid. I had what I would call an “encounter” with God at about the age of nine, and I was convinced that when God “called” you, that meant you had to be a missionary to cannibals.

Cannibals eat people. So I just lay in my bed and balled my eyes out.

So far, the call to write hasn’t involved large pots of me stew, but it has been my venue for exploring what purpose is and what it means in my life.

The Bible has some pretty crazy amazing stories of people being called by God. Via nature and very dramatically. Moses and the burning bush is a classic.

As much as I’ve thought and written about what purpose IS, here’s some things purpose is NOT: [from a previous post]

Every night I take it to bed with me, wake up with it, and feel it breathing down my neck when I’m not giving enough attention to it.

(No, it isn’t an overly affectionate labrador.)

It’s my purpose.

Sometimes purpose manifests itself in many ways throughout our lives and sometimes as one activity that drives us, brings us joy, and is the hardest work we do.

What is it for you?

Maybe parenting or preaching or growing a business…

For me, it  has always been writing, even in the midst of more important work, like raising my children.

Poet and scholar Francesco Petrarca expressed his relentless need to write in a letter to a friend:

“This inexorable passion has such a hold upon me that pen, ink, and paper, and work prolonged far into the night, are more to my liking than repose and sleep. In short, I find myself always in a sad and languishing state when I am not writing, and, anomalous though it seems, I labour when I rest, and find my rest in labour.”

Purpose, obsession…whatever.

Even with the exhaustion and pain brought on by writing, Petrarca said his “tireless spirit” seemed to be “reclining upon the softest down.”

That is how I’m feeling right now as I type. Despite the strain on mind and emotion, I sense a soft euphoria.

I recently asked my family and friends about their sense of purpose. The answers ranged from crossing tasks off of a list — to caring for pets — to helping others — to not really knowing at all…

Their responses confirmed that purpose is deeply personal and unique to each. But they also revealed what purpose is not.

Purpose is NOT…

Our aphrodisiac–My husband, a missionary to India for 20 years, said he and other young Christians became passionate at one point about sharing Jesus with a tribal gypsy group. “Yeah! Let’s spread the Gospel among the Banjaras!” they rallied, their good intentions punching the air like cheering fists. But they never did. Likewise, we may feel called to a task, like writing or evangelism, but we become more enamored with the idea of it. We pour our efforts into dreaming and discerning and planning but never act. 

All about us–The other day I interviewed a college student for her school’s alumni magazine. She compared her college life to a line-up of dominoes. “What I do in the place God has set me will touch the next person and the next and the next.” Ultimately, the work we are purposed to do affects a broader community.  Our responsibility is to carry out our purpose, to work hard, and to trust that it means something to someone someday, like Pertrarca’s words surfacing hundreds of years later and inspiring me in my writing.

About being Moses–Most of us don’t have a “burning bush” moment. No hot minute in our desert when a voice comes out of a flaming shrub and proclaims, “Hey, you, I’m God, and I’m sending you on this mind-blowing mission that will alter the course of humanity!” Even after this supernatural encounter, Moses doubted. I imagine that one more irritating “but Lord” from Moses, and God may have moved on to the next sandaled guy. Which makes me ask myself, Have I answered God’s call with a resounding Yes! or am I squeaking out a response that prompts God to not ask so much of me the next time?

Wander on Purpose, the film project

My filmmaker friend Erin is walking the Wicklow Way in Ireland. As part of a collaborative film project (to which my daughters and I have contributed), each day of the journey will have a theme. All week, I’m “walking alongside” Erin via this blog and sharing my experience of how walking/hiking/wandering on purpose can help and heal us.

Check out the photos from Erin’s walk!

Day 1: Finding Healthy Habits

Day 2: Finding Courage, Giving Up Fear

Day 3: Wandering into Surprise

Day 4: Leaving Anger Along the Path

Day 5: Dropping Blessings like Breadcrumbs