One true purpose
I have a strong philosophy that we all have a one true purpose. I don’t think we need to invent this purpose; we already have it we just need to discover it or identify it. It is within us, we need to find it. The writer of Proverbs said that we needed to raise a child according to his and her bent.
We have a bent, we have gifts, what are they? What is our true calling? What is our true purpose on this Earth? Not only do I believe we have a true purpose, I believe that it was divinely planted in our hearts by Providence and we need to look inward and discover it.
I also believe we are a three part being. We are spirit, soul and body. The apostle Paul calls our spirit or our heart the hidden man of the heart. The writer of Proverbs calls our spirit “the candle of the Lord.†Meaning that is how God lights our path or how He gives us direction. Light also means knowledge, so our heart or spirit is how He enlightens us or gives us direction. Our spirit is where God Himself dwells! This is where He communicates with us; this is where our conscience dwells. Our conscience is the voice of our hearts!
Our spirit is how we communicate to the spiritual world around us. This is where faith dwells and the invisible things of God. This is where the fruit of the Spirit dwells, love faith, forgiveness, longsuffering, patients, gentleness, kindness, hope and all the other Godly attributes. Our hearts are our real us and this is where we will find and discover our true self and our true purpose. This is where we will find our guiding principles and where we will find the gifts that have been given to us to give back to the world.
My guiding principles are:
Never judge someone by their circumstances.
Treat everyone equal.
Treat everyone how I would want to be treated if I was in their shoes.
Grow into my true potential.
Allow my true self, the hidden man of the heart to rule my life.
Help everyone that I can reach their full potential.
Be a giver; allow my gifts to be gifts to the world.
Our soul is where our emotions lie. Our soul is like a steering wheel of a car. Our heart is the real us and our soul is the steering wheel and our body is our car. Our soul is what steers us. Will it follow our heart or will it follow a contrary path. Will our soul choose life, peace and love or will it choose death, war and hate. We get to choose. Will you follow after your heart, the hidden man or will you follow a contrary plan and lead a destructive and harmful life? As for me and my house we choose life!
Our soul is how we communicate to our social world, our emotional world, those around us. Our mind and our soul are unreliable it only knows what we tell it. We need to program our soul and mind positive truths, not destructive lies. We need to be careful what we feed our soul and mind; we need to feed it wholesome positive truths.
We need to program our minds to follow our hearts and to follow our one true calling and our one true purpose. We need to think about and meditate about things that are true and noble; we need to think about what we can do and what we really want and not what we can’t do and what we don’t want. We need to realize we don’t have the spirit of fear but we have the spirit of power, love and a sound mind. Perfect love cast out all fear. We need to meditate and have a mantra to live by. We need to identify our guiding principles and live by them.
We need to be single minded of heart and when the storms of life start to rage against us we need to fix our minds on our one true purpose as if it were a light house at sea. Then we will not be driven with the wind and tossed to and fro. Our anchor will be secured in our one true purpose and in our faith in our calling.
When you look within, what is your one true purpose? Why are you here? Why are you on this planet? What are your gifts, what is your why, what is your bent, your calling? I discovered my purpose when I was twenty five years old. I was a carpenter earning a mere wage, but I was working for a much greater cause than a paycheck. I knew I had a purpose. When you look within and you listen you will hear a truth that rings true. It is as if a book was written by Providence about you and it lies in a treasure box in your heart. We need to dig deep, find that box and read our book.
My truth was that I was here to help people reach their full potential. I think everyone’s purpose will sound similar; somehow it will include helping humanity. I remember as a twenty five year old young man with a young family building a swimming pool deck for Dr. Miller, I was making eight dollars an hour, but I was working for a much bigger wage.
One night after all the employees went home I was vacuuming the pool and removing all the saw dust from building a redwood deck around it. It was very relaxing. You had to slowly move the vacuum wand and hose and you could see all the redwood saw dust being sucked into the hose. Dr. Miller came out to talk with me as the sun was setting. He watched in silence as I slowly moved the wand and hose. I was full of enthusiasm for the company I worked for so I asked him if he would like us to maintain his pool all year. He told me no and that he loved working on the pool and especially vacuuming it, for it relaxed him, especially after a long day at work. I knew what he meant.
I asked Dr. Miller what kind of doctor he was, and he explained to me he was a plastic surgeon.  I was naive and was unsure of what that meant and asked him to explain. When I tell this story most men tell me they think his practice is working with breast implants and most women say that he was working in pediatrics, the women win this one. He began to tell me how he was in pediatrics and specialized in cleft palates. He shared with me how he grafts skin and bone from the child’s body and rebuilds their mouth and nose. He told me how days before he sewed a three year old girls’ finger back together  that was almost cut off from being slammed in a door. He said that the surgery had taken over sixteen hours. He also commented on how he enjoyed the deck I was building him and how it had relaxed him after the long surgery.
I looked at Dr. Miller and asked him if he thought I could receive a little credit for helping this little girl, because my deck had helped him. He looked at me and said “yes.†I asked him if the next time he helped a little child by rebuilding their palate, and if my deck really helped him if I could receive a little credit, he smiled and said “yes.†We had a moment of grace; I knew that my life mattered and that I had a true purpose.
We are all connected. When you sell coffee to a doctor or you fix their car, or help them in any way, you are a part of the wonderful things they do to help the world.
I was fired from a job one time and it devastated me. Someone had lied about me and I was falsely accused. I had given my all for this company and now I was fired. I had literally cried many a times because I wanted my job back and I wanted the truth to be known.
One day about six months after the firing, I was already working at a better job and receiving more compensation, I had tears in my eyes as I prayed “Lord just for the record let the truth be known.†And a still small voice in the inner most part of my heart said “they aren’t keeping the record I am.†After that I never looked back and I never shed another tear.
Find your true self, find your calling, be at peace, be at harmony, be one with yourself and your true calling. Be at one with the world.
A carpenter
I was once a simple carpenter
I used a nail and a hammer
As a young lad I would not be famous
Who ever heard of a carpenter but us
Using my hands building many homes
My mission to provide for my little clones
Renown? Or a carpenter-father? I still choose the latter
With a world of wonder, how would my life matter
No worry or shame, I did not hammer for fame
Keeping my young, happy and fed, was my only aim
Simple as it seems, my life turned out to be full of joy
Working night and day, all for two girls and a boy
Asking why my life turned out so grand and full of love
I found a Carpenter, and The Father, looking down from above
Then one sad day after much was built
Tumbling down came my joy that did wilt
My little girl with all her wonder had a fall
To the earth she did fall, injuring us all
Her spirit leaving behind her earthy house
The Master Carpenter’s glory she did espouse
The life that once lived in a house made by man
Returned to the divine one where her life began
No longer needing her earthen clay vessel
We were left with fear and doubt to wrestle
Wanting to say good bye I visited her one last time
I could not find her in the body, she left in its prime
With tears, I asked where was her life that I did love
Looking up…
I saw her with a Carpenter and The father looking down from above
Written by Robert Allen Mitchell Sr.
For Kristin Mitchell