Fulfill the Measure of Your Creation

When my kids were younger, I would ask them to do something, and their response was often the same three-letter word:

“Please get ready for bed.”  

“Why?”

“Please brush your teeth.”

“Why?”

“Please eat your dinner.”

“Why?”

It might have been cute the first 300 times, but after a while, it became exhausting trying to come up with answers that were truly helpful.  I never wanted to be the parent who answered “Because I said so”, and my husband and I even made a pact early on that we would never utter those words to our kids.  But alas, we did because it was so much easier than “Because the mitochondria in your body’s cells want to digest those nutrients to give you energy to run and play today”.  

However, now that I reflect on those moments, I can see how important the “Why” is in our lives.  So important in fact that people spend their entire existence searching out this answer.

It has been said that the two greatest days of your life are the day you are born and the day you realize why.  Now, for some, there is one defining moment, easily identified, when they figured out what they were meant to be or do with their life.  For others, it can be a never-ending quest.

But why find your WHY?

I believe what Socrates said, “An unexamined life is not worth living.”   I believe that we should go through our lives with sincere intention.  With the desire to be someone for a reason, not just by chance.  To have purpose in our actions.

I’ve often felt discouraged that I couldn’t just visit the library, go to the ‘Life’ section and read a publication, all about my life.  I imagine it’s a large, dark leather book, meticulously bound, imprinted with my full name, platinum-embossed in a modern font of course, with a great table of contents and hopefully a well-written foreword from the author.  

If I’m being honest, I’d pour over the foreword and then probably skim to the last few pages and see how it all ends up.  These days though, I’d settle for hopping to my current page, and be happy just to read the next few chapters.  But as far as I know, no such text exists.

When I was a young college student, I thrived in the inescapable learning environment.  I devoured my courses, borrowing the professor’s initiative to continue learning, continue improving, to change the world.  Time passed, I got married, had a couple of kids, I settled into a career that worked well for my situation.  But over the past few years, I’ve felt the burning desire to expand and grow again.  

And so, this is my story.  

My life publication, if you will. I intend to document my expedition to find my “Why”, and my adventures along the way.  I hope you’ll follow along and be inspired to Fulfill the Measure of Your Creation, too.