YOUR PURPOSE, YOUR LIFE

BY: Amb Steve Mbugua. Director; Makinika Afrika Intl

If you knew you were going to die one year from today, what would you do and how would you

want to be remembered?

Most of us don’t like thinking about death. It freaks us out. But thinking about our own death

surprisingly has a lot of practical advantages. One of those advantages is that it forces us to zero

in on what’s actually important in our lives and what’s just frivolous and distracting. Ever sat and

thought of young people who died and left us wondering? Think about Fidel Odinga, Esir, Bishop

Ben Bahati,a friend or a relative who left you and wondered how unfair the world is.

When I was doing my undergraduate at Moi University Eldoret, there was a time we were having

a club dinner at the Soweto mess and I asked members “If you had a year to live, what would you

do?” As you can imagine, this is a question without a direct answer. A lot of people gave vague

and boring answers.

But it did cause people to really think about their lives in a different way and re-evaluate what their

priorities were.

Our Spiritual leader and my mentor Rev Elijah Mwangi of Deliverance Church Nakuru always

declares to us that “You will be mighty in the land”. These words have been lingering my mind

since when I gave my life to Christ. In my spiritual walk I do a lot of counselling, motivation and

mentorship in schools through Kenya Students Christian Fellowship(KSCF), Young life Africa,

NUSETA,FOCUS and my Initiative(Makinika Afrika Intl) and one thing I have realized is that

every young man/women out there is hungry to know his/her purpose on earth.

Most of us have no clue what we want to do with our lives. Even after we finish school. Even after

we get a job. Even after we’re making money. Part of the problem is the concept of “life purpose”

itself. The idea that we were each born for some higher purpose and it’s now our cosmic mission

to find it. We exist on this earth for some undetermined period of time. During that time we do

things. Some of these things are important. Some of them are unimportant. And those important

things give our lives meaning and happiness. The unimportant ones basically just kill time.

What is your legacy going to be? What are the stories people are going to tell when you’re gone?

What is your obituary going to say? Is there anything to say at all? If not, what would you like it

to say? How can you start working towards that today?

And again, if you fantasize about your obituary one sentence with the ordinary achievements that

impresses no one, then again, you’re failing here.

When people feel like they have no sense of direction, no purpose in their life, it’s because they

don’t know what’s important to them, they don’t know what their values are.

And when you don’t know what your values are, then you’re essentially taking on other people’s

values and living other people’s priorities instead of your own. This is a one-way ticket to

unhealthy relationships and eventual misery.

Discovering one’s “purpose” in life essentially boils down to finding those one or two things that

are bigger than yourself, and bigger than those around you. And to find them you must get off your

couch and act, and take the time to think beyond yourself, to think greater than yourself, and

paradoxically, to imagine a world without yourself. It has costed me years of reading inspirational

books like purpose driven life ,think big, fire rain etc and the bible to discover my purpose.

One of the obvious way to understand your purpose is identifying and knowing your purpose.

Discovering what you’re passionate about in life and what matters to you is a full-contact sport, a

trial-and-error process. None of us know exactly how we feel about an activity until we actually

do the activity.

What most people don’t understand is that passion is the result of action, not the cause of it.

Be careful how you spend each day, not led by other peoples programs and plans but have your

own values. To live a happy and healthy life, we must hold on to values that are greater than our

own pleasure or satisfaction.

Mr Chris Kirubi always says that if you want to count yourself successful, just Identify one

problem in the world and try fixing it. Getting a solution to a problem leads to a successful living.

Find a problem you care about and start solving it. Obviously, you’re not going to fix the world’s

problems by yourself. But you can contribute and make a difference. And that feeling of making

a difference is ultimately what’s most important for your own happiness and fulfillment.

Great things are, by their very nature, unique and unconventional. Therefore, to achieve them, we

must go against the herd mentality. And to do that is scary.

Embrace embarrassment. Feeling foolish is part of the path to achieving something important,

something meaningful. The more a major life decision scares you, chances are the more you need

to be doing it.

Right now, there’s something you want to do, something you think about doing, something you

fantasize about doing, yet you don’t do it. You have your reasons, no doubt. And you repeat these

reasons to yourself day in day out. My friend, that could be where your purpose is and your

prosperity.

Whatever it is, don’t just look at the activities that keep you up all night, but look at the cognitive

principles behind those activities that enthrall you. Because they can easily be applied elsewhere.

People want to start their own business or become financially independent. But you don’t end up

a successful entrepreneur unless you find a way to appreciate the risk, the uncertainty, the repeated

failures, and working insane hours on something you have no idea whether will be successful or

not.

People want a partner, a spouse. But you don’t end up attracting someone amazing without

appreciating the emotional turbulence that comes with weathering rejections, building the sexual

tension that never gets released, and staring blankly at a phone that never rings. It’s part of the

game of love. You can’t win if you don’t play. Everybody wants something. And everybody wants

something enough. They just aren’t aware of what it is they want, or rather, what they want

“enough.”

Who you are is defined by the values you are willing to struggle for. People who enjoy the struggles

of a gym are the ones who get in good shape. People who enjoy long workweeks and the politics

of the corporate ladder are the ones who move up it. People who enjoy the stresses and uncertainty

of the starving artist lifestyle are ultimately the ones who live it and make it.

Everything involves sacrifice. Everything includes some sort of cost. Nothing is pleasurable or

uplifting all of the time. So the question becomes: what struggle or sacrifice are you willing to

tolerate? Ultimately, what determines our ability to stick with something we care about is our

ability to handle the rough patches and ride out the inevitable rotten days.

This is the most simple and basic component of life: our struggles determine our successes. So

choose your struggles wisely, my friend.

If its gonna happen, its upto you.

You have greatness in you, you have the seed of greatness in you because if you are born again

then you are a royal priesthood, a chosen nation and set apart by God to enjoy the goodies of the

kingdom

As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts

than your thoughts.

(Isaiah 55:9, NIV)

. God’s dream for your life is so much bigger than your own. He wants to bless you and enlarge

your territory. His ways and thoughts are so much higher than ours, and His plan is so much bigger

than we can imagine. Choose today to focus on the good things God has in store for you. Don’t

allow the circumstances of life to drag your thoughts down. Choose God’s thoughts by meditating

on His Word.

The Scripture says to “set your mind on things above.” Those “things above” are God’s thoughts

and His ways. Having higher thoughts means thinking, “I am blessed and highly favored. I am

above only and not beneath. I am the head and not the tail. I am a victor, not a victim. I am

righteous, and my path shines brighter and brighter to the full day!”

When you allow those higher thoughts to fill your mind, they will direct your steps. You will see

yourself as an overcomer and live the abundant life God has in store for you!

Habakkuk 2:2 And the Lord answered me:“Write the vision; make it plain on tablets, so he may

run who reads it. For still the vision awaits its appointed time; it hastens to the end—it will not lie.

If it seems slow, wait for it;it will surely come; it will not delay.

May God empower you today and help you to leave a purposeful life in Jesus mighty name. Please

say this prayer and focus on the greater things above.

“Father in heaven, thank You for thinking good thoughts about me. Help me to focus on Your

higher thoughts today. To live a purpose driven life and become what you created me to be.

Empower me to obey Your Word so that I can live as an overcomer in every area of life in Jesus’

name. Amen.”