Purpose

I have to tell you about something I am very proud of:  I am drinking my coffee black for the second day in a row! (yes that deserves an exclamation mark)  Normally I put flavored creamer and splenda in my coffee, so this is a huge accomplishment for me:

Why?  I figure all that crap I put in my coffee can’t be good for me.  Plus, I’m considering giving up Splenda for Lent, so I figure I oughta start trying to cut back.   What do you put in your coffee?

Yesterday my mom came in town.  I have the weekend off, so we have a jam packed wedding-filled weekend.  Tomorrow I have another hair/makeup appointment in the morning and then we have a tasting with the caterer that evening to decide our menu.  Monday morning (I don’t work until the evening), we have a 2.5 hour appointment with the wedding planner we finally decided to get to help things run smoothly on the big day.

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A week and a half ago Dean and I met with the pastor leading our premarital classes.  I am proud to say that we matched up extremely well on all the questionnaires we filled out ahead of time!  Clearly that means our marriage will work ; )  But that is besides the point…He encouraged us to read A Purpose Driven Life together.  I read this book back in college, but Dean has never read it, so I am reading it again with him.

I forgot how wonderful this book is.  Below are a few (a lot of) quotes from the last chapter I read.  It is a Christian-based book, but I think the message in this latest chapter can be applicable to anyone:

Many people are driven by the need for approval…I don’t know the all the keys to success, but one key to failure is to try to please everyone.

The greatest tragedy is not death, but life without purpose.

Without a clear purpose you have no foundation on which you base decisions, allocate your time, and use your resources.  You will tend to make choices based on circumstances, pressures, and your mood at that moment.  People who don’t know their purpose try to do too much–and THAT causes stress, fatigue, and conflict.

You become effective by being selective.

Henry David Thoreau observed that people live lives of “quiet desperation,” but today a better description is aimless distraction.  Many people are like gyroscopes, spinning around at a frantic pace but never going anywhere.  

If you want your life to have impact, focus it!  Stop dabbling.  Stop trying to do it all.  Prune away even good activities and do only that which matters most.

Never confuse activity with productivity.

Purpose produces passion….on the other hand, passion dissipates when you lack purpose.

What did you do what what [God] gave you?  What did you do with your life–all the gifts, talents, opportunities, energy, relationships and resources Gad gave you?   Did you spend them on yourself, or did you use them for the purposes God made you for?

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