Purpose.....

The picture above is the back entrance to the Dixon Center at LBW Community College.  My office is on the left at the far end of the hallway.  For 15 years, I have started my workday by walking down this narrow, fluorescent-lit, cinder block hallway....and every time I walk in this building, I feel a strong sense of PURPOSE.  I feel like everything I'm about to do for the day is what I have been put on this earth to do.  Probably sounds fine and dandy, but in reality, it terrifies me!

Yep.  It terrifies me to stop and think that my life's purpose is to work, for some 25 years, and that I feel the most fulfilled when I'm at work!   

At best, I figure I have about 45 more years on Earth.  What am I doing with my life?  But maybe the better question is "what am I being with my life?"  The urban monk, Jay Shetty, said "rather than 'to do' lists, we need 'to be' lists."  I absolutely agree.  Please don't hear what I'm not saying...I'm not arguing for dropping all of life's responsibilities like Chris McCandliss and moving off to Alaska to die in an old bus.  What I'm saying is there is more to life than work!  

When I was at Troy State University, (yes, I will always call it Troy State) I had a professor named James Smith.  Actually, I had his brother Ray Smith, too.  They both were fantastic teachers.  I will never forget something James Smith told us one day in MUS 384--Band Techniques.  He said "do not live at the bandroom."  That was in about 1996, and here I sit reminiscing about it some 22 years later, and it resounds in my head like a giant church bell.  

Granted, we do find fulfillment in our work, and we should.  Most of us weren't born wealthy.  It's nice to eat well, and live indoors.  But work is WHAT WE DO, NOT WHO WE ARE.  Right, Johnny????  Right!  I love what I do.  I get to watch people accomplish dreams!  I get to watch musicians grow in their talent!  I get to see the shy, timid, scared-to-death singer come out of his/her shell on stage, and become a rock star!  I get to watch my students sign their autographs for the kids we play for....but it's a job.  At some point, God willing, I will retire from this job.  No more sound checks.  No more ground loop hums (OMG I can't wait). No more worrying about enrollments.  No more Canvas.  But...then what???  

The big three things that I think people find their purpose in are their careers, their kids, and their spouses.  All three are very honorable, beautiful things.  But retirement will come.  Kids will grow up.  Spouses will (potentially) leave or pass away.  What then?  What are you left with?  

If one doesn't find something with real, lasting value on which to devote his life, then he will, more often than not, find himself lost in a world that will throw every kind of "purpose" at him.  And he will grab them!  He will grab them because mankind knows it is here for SOMETHING!!!!  

The band Switchfoot said in a song "we were meant to live for so much more."  How right they are!  So today, maybe remember that work is what you do, but it's not who you are.