About The Purpose Of Life

In my previous post on Being and Loving by Horner, Richard suggested I read a book called Leisure: The Basis of Culture. As usual, I started writing up a comment that went longer than my post itself, so I thought, why don't I make it a post instead since I haven't written a post for a week!

I am an advocate of leisure. In fact, I try to get people to slow down a bit to listen to themselves and their motivations. I myself try to practise it as much as I can. Every now and again, the frantic rat and the treadmill effect kinda slides in but overall, I think I'm at a better place now than before with controlling the treadmill and making it work for me rather than I work for it.

I don't always say it in many words but try to live by example and sometimes when I see people get into mini-crisis because of their own choices, I try and explain to them that we need to listen to what our hearts are saying and make a conscious choice to heed it. I don't always get a light bulb effect but that's okay. We are all at different places in our lives and some are just not ready to listen.

I believe God speaks and guides us in our purpose on earth through our hearts and we need to listen to what our hearts are saying. But, of course, sometimes the devil tries to speak to us too and confuses us. Ever asked, Is it God or is it just me? It's a matter of practice when it comes to listening to God. The more we do it, the more accurate we get at it. That was the advise I got when I asked the same question a few years ago.

I also believe that the devil tries to distract us from our true purpose through the busyness of life and making us think we've got to have it all and do it all. (Read: Don't Let The Devil Steal Your Destiny by Norvel Hayes)

Whenever I contemplate going back to full-time work, be it for myself or for someone else, I know this just isn't the right timing but still the human nature in me just wants to ensure a safer future, and to know that I still got what it takes to succeed in the business world. The need to feel secure, isn't that a huge driving force of why we do the things we do. If we knew for sure that we will be just fine, would we still strive as hard?

So I reckon, it's knowing our purpose in life that's important to how we make our decisions and to be able to stand by faith on that knowledge during testing times. To me, that's living by faith.

How did I get to this topic from that passing comment of Richard, I don't know. I suppose I acknowledge the need for time-outs, for contemplation, for listening to our hearts and following our hearts. The need to stand firm on what we've heard and not be swayed by temptations and distractions to take us from that path; the need for me to put away all subtle ways of putting my feet on both the present and the future so much so that I stress myself to the limits in trying to achieve both, thus being double minded. The bible says in James 1:5-8, a double minded man is unstable in all his ways, swayed by the waves in the sea, is neither here nor there, and will not achieve or receive anything.

I suppose, I'm reminding myself that God has put in my custody, a child that needs to be nurtured in all areas of his life and the importance of his early childhood days for him to reach his fullest potential in his future developments. I am afterall, a Princess of God, a Wife, a Mother, a Daughter, and an Accountant/a Counsellor and a Sister to the body of Christ - all in that order of priority. I wear different hats at different times but when I am faced with conflicting demands, my priority checklist comes in. And now I have to return to wearing my Accountant hat because hubs and son are asleep and I've got my tax return to do!