Sometimes, we take the time to stop and think…

Our lives are pretty quick and yet we all have this ONE question that never seems to come with a straight or easy answer.  Many of us never even bother to stop and ask the question.  We would rather just move along like cattle running in a chute on a feed lot.  Our lives begin to revolve around the sight of the tractor knowing that food is on its way.  We become a victim of our own circumstances with no real intention on living any other way.  Because that is what we do.

Some of us are a little lucky and gradually become aware  of something that’s missing.  But that inkling seems to ebb and flow like the tide of the ocean.  It hits us hard some days, knocking us to the ground while barely making even a splash on others.  Most of the time, we just muddle our way through until it subsides and we pretend it didn’t even happen.

Then, there are the ones that know it’s there…they are asking themselves the one question, waiting for the answer to come.  In fact, I heard a woman ask it the other day.  She is in the process of selling her house and purging everything she doesn’t need or want anymore.  She purchased a condo in Belize and will spend two weeks there next month.  She has no idea of what her answer is, but she is on the verge of finding out.

I will never forget the day that same question came to the forefront in my life.  It turns out that the friend I was having lunch with was asking herself the same question. We were both full of questions with no real answers for one another and yet we could not deny their existence.  Although we took much different roads to get to this particular point in each of our lives, it was something we could ignore any longer.

And we both knew it, too.

So what is this ONE question?

The one that is elusive to so many, ignored by most, and yet answered only such a few?

Can this one question really matter that much?

The truth is that the question does not matter as much as the answer.

But the ONE question that every one of us wants to answer is simple really…

We all want to know why we are here.

It is the never-ending question at the basis of every college philosophy class — the one that haunts us all when taking a long hard look back at life and wonder what it all meant.

Some of us know from a very early age what we were born to do and that never wavers, no matter how much time passes by, where we go, or who we meet along the way.

We all can probably think of a few people who might fit that bill — they started drawing at the age of 5 and have never stopped…they began playing golf as soon as they could walk…they started designing clothes at the ripe old age of 10.

Sometimes, our purpose is much more elusive and it will take time and patience before it shows itself fully to you.  For some reason, it knows when you are ready for it (even when you think you aren’t) and will not show itself until then.  For most of us, that comes as a wake up call we never asked for or wanted.  We find a reason to shun it, pushing it aside as it disrupts everything we thought we knew about how our life should play out.

We were wrong.

Who hasn’t heard of the woman who quit her full-time high paying job complete with stock options to run a museum in a town she grew up with?  Who hasn’t met the man who went to law school only to quit to become the executive director for a non-profit working to feed, clothe, and educate the ones who need it most?

Nothing surprises me any more.  The above two stories are just two of the many destinies that show themselves in ways we never imagined.  Maybe these people were never wondering what they could do with their lives, they were merely doing what they should do.

How did this happen?  Did they just wake up one day and decide to head off in a new direction without any real forethought?  Or was their purpose so bright that they couldn’t help but head to it?

Ask yourself this one question…the one question you might be terrified to answer.  Ask it over and over until your answer becomes the same every time you ask it.  Allow your heart to speak, regardless of how irrational it sounds.

“The biggest dilemma is not in finding what we are meant to do.  The biggest dilemma is having the courage to do it.”

Find out why you are…what your life means…and how you impact change and influence the lives of others…

When you do, every answer that follows becomes easy.

Michelle A. Homme 2015 ©