Tag: patience

Some years ago I was at a Pastors Conference in Phoenix, Arizona and I heard Joyce Meyer speaking. She told a story of a conversation in which she was asked when she was going to retire. She said she was puzzled by the question and responded, “I don’t know how you retire from a calling.”

I want to be clear – your purpose is bigger than a job and can be expressed in many different ways. If your purpose is to inspire young men, you could do that through coaching, teaching at a school, mentoring or public speaking. Your purpose will likely lead you to a particular type of work but it may not be your day-to-day work. In essence, your purpose is what you are called to do because it answers your biggest ‘why’. Why do you get up in the morning? If your answer is, ‘because I have to go to work so I can make money’ I’d say that’s a very surface level answer to a much deeper question.

Your deeper ‘why’ may be that you never had much growing up and you want to demonstrate to your kids the value of hard work. Or better yet, you want to make a difference in other kids’ lives because you lacked a mentor when you were growing up. What you are called to do, which is what you were purposed to do, is what you feel most passionate about and what you feel uniquely qualified for. This feeling resonates so deeply that if you’re like me you get frustrated when anything interferes with you being able to do it. Some say that you should ask yourself the question, ‘if money were not a factor, what would I do fulltime for free?’

The way in which you live out your purpose may change but it will not die until you die. It is to our advantage to use the energy we have in our youth to advance the goals we have so that in our latter years we can advance those same goals in less strenuous ways. For example, it may take a lot of hours to build a business from scratch. But over the years hopefully, you have trained others to run it so that your role in that business can shift to overseer or just owner. It may take you years to write your first book but once you have some momentum the next five books may not require as much of your time and energy.

Think of a lifetime lived devoted to your purpose as advancing through a company. There are levels to this and each one has valuable lessons to offer.

ENTRY LEVEL

At the beginning you can’t expect to know everything. When you are just beginning to connect the dots in your life and they are revealing your purpose to you it can be exciting. It can also be daunting. Your brain may get flooded with ideas and a vision for where you want to go and what you want to do. It is at this point that many people make a crucial mistake and launch a vision or a company without proper oversight. The wisest thing to do is to find someone who is already doing what you aspire to do and submit to them for a season. Learn. Take notes. Observe. Grow. You can’t lead effectively if you’ve never followed faithfully. Early in the development of identifying and walking in your purpose, humility can be your greatest companion.

EXPERIENCED LEVEL

Once you have some experience under your belt your life begins to have some definition. For example, I learned from others for years (and I’m still learning), although deep down I always felt the call to write and speak. Had I started my speaking career too soon it would have been a disaster. Had I started writing 15 years ago, you probably wouldn’t be reading this right now. What you learn when no one is watching will allow you to present a perfected product when everyone is watching. As an international speaker, when nerves creep in, my confidence comes from the years of practice and training I have undergone.

EXPERT LEVEL

Some say ‘better late than never.’ I’d say, sometimes later is better. When you have been living out your purpose for years, be it ministering, mentoring, or manufacturing, you have built some connections and creations that can sustain you on difficult days. You may have created a Facebook group that seemed insignificant at first but now it blesses others and even you on a daily basis. You may have connected with others of a like mind who know what you’re feeling on your worst days. But these things don’t happen overnight. When it comes to completing your calling and fulfilling your purpose on earth – patience is not only a virtue it’s a necessity.

Patience is not simply the ability to wait – it’s how we behave while we’re waiting. – Joyce Meyer