
Your Purpose is Your Joy
For years I’ve had the same dresser my grandmother gave to me when I was 6 years old. It never seriously occurred to me to replace it. They don’t make them like they used to.
Above my dresser is a handwritten post-it-note, faded with age.
“Trust that everything you are doing is laying the foundation for your greater work to unfold.”
On some days it’s absolutely clear to me that a greater work is unfolding. On other days I’m not so sure. No matter, I still read that note everyday, believing that it is true.
Trusting that it is true.
One night while sitting alone at the fire, a sense of overwhelming despair crept over me. The pain of the world pressed in from all sides, near and far. I felt profoundly uncertain about so many things.
Questioning my work and the direction of my life. Wondering if what I was doing made any difference in a world turned upside down. I was filled with doubt and not feeling very trusting.
Gazing into the fire with tears in my eyes, I plaintively asked, “Am I doing what I am supposed to be doing?”
With infinite patience, the Voice that speaks to me gently said,
“What do you think you’ve been doing? You’ve been building fires, signal fires, so people will know where to find you.
So they will know that there is a safe place to find the clarity and peace they seek. You’re helping them to find their way.”
At that moment I understood that I was doing my part.
Each of us has our part—to bring more light into the world. And with light comes clarity and peace.
Alone we can do nothing. Alone we can’t save the world—we can’t even save ourselves—but together we can make a difference, if we each do our part.
How do we know what our part is? How do we know our deeper purpose, or if we even have greater work?
How do you know why you are here?
To begin, we deepen and strengthen our connection with the spirit within us.
We embrace our connection with each other.
We listen deeply for what is ours to hear.
We recognize and honor the unbreakable relationship we have with Nature, with Life, with God.
And then it begins to dawn upon our open minds that there is a way to go together. We begin to understand why we are here and our deeper purpose reveals itself.
When we consider the pivotal moments in our lives, a pattern emerges and the way we have chosen becomes more clear. No effort is wasted. Everything is a learning experience.
We learn to hold space for ourselves the way the caterpillar becomes a butterfly in the space held by the chrysalis—in the sacred space of transformation.
When we are clear and nonresistant, we receive the guidance we need for the unfolding of something greater—being who we are.
As we learn to hold this space for ourselves, we can hold it for others, and then we can hold it together.
Each of us is on a significant journey. We interpret the signs along the way in the highest light, so we can see the beauty and truth of who we are and why we are here.
Our purpose—our sacred purpose—is not the doing of a thing.
It is a way of being that informs everything we do, so that everything we do becomes sacred.
This lays the foundation for our greater work to unfold—removing the obstacles to the full expression of who we are.
Our inner guidance comes, not when we are afraid or in a state of panic, but when we are in a relaxed state of mind. When we prepare a place for grace.
Understanding this can take years, even decades. It’s the journey of a lifetime that takes us right to the end of our days. Whatever we believe about ourselves, there are always deeper levels of understanding.
We spend the better part of our lives engaged in work and pursuing careers, in marriage and raising children, in recreation and building community.
In the hustle and bustle, there is a deeper story that continues to unfold within us. The living story of remembering who we are, remembering our relationship to the Creator, to God.
In the meantime, we walk the path, one step at a time, enjoying the way that unfolds before us. When choosing joy, we are instinctively choosing the right direction. Our purpose is intimately linked to our being joyful.
Working with fire in a ceremonial way, I have discovered questions that seem to live at the fire, waiting in luminous space until we are ready to listen for the answers the questions are meant to serve.
After one of my very closest friends passed away, I came face to face with questions of my own at the fire on a cold winter night. I was awash in grief and could find no comfort. I wanted to tear off my clothes, stand barefoot and naked on the frozen ground, and walk into the fire. I wanted to cleanse myself of sorrow, a sorrow that went all the way back to childhood.
I shouted at the moon, “I want to live!” Into the fire I cried, “Who am I? Why am I here?
Who sent me to this place? Why did You send me here?
And that was the beginning of a long journey, answering these questions ever more deeply, and realizing the truth of my being—why I am here—and helping others along the way to realize the truth about themselves.
Remember this: Stay connected to your joy—that’s all you need. Everything goes right when you are connected to your joy. Everything you need becomes available, everything lines up.
Joy is an attribute of peace.
Your purpose and your joy are inseparable.
Choose joy and you are choosing the right direction.
Thanks, Tom. Yes, signal fires, we are called to light them wherever we are. It reminds me of Jesus statement, love lasts forever.
Michael,
Thank you for reading!
Love that wise guy Jesus.
I must be in good company.
Thanks for reaching out and connecting.
Love and Blessings,
Tom
Beautiful writing.
A total wake-up call ,and call to action to be present, my purpose and joy are inseparable.
Thank you
Carin
Thank you Carin.
I always love hearing how my words touch you.
Thank you for your love and encouragement at every turn.
I love you.
Tom
Aloha Tom,
Here is my affirmation to you: You are in the right place, doing and being who you are.
Your emails resonate with me. I appreciate that you said we can’t do this alone. We need each other. I also liked that your inner voice said you are sending out signal fires!
I am grateful for your thoughtful and inspiring emails.
Suzanne,
It’s always a pleasure to hear from you.
Thank you for your words! They resonate with me.
High frequency all around.
Thank you for reading.
Love and Blessings,
Tom
Dearest Tom,
What a blessed soul you are my friend, my soul brother. What you have written, I too struggle with at times. Often, I seem to stay in this same question, for I suppose this is a place of surrender to the Divine as I remain open to It’s guidance. For me, as it is for you, I must return to the quiet through meditation, prayer, study, and journaling. But always – ALWAYS – being in nature, opening up to what Nature offers in abundance is where the answers easily and gracefully arrive. Then they come to me in multitudes of ways – through my intuition – as the voice of God within speaks to me and through me in the simplest of ways, which cannot be misunderstood, for there is no complication in God Itself, for the guidance is always from love, peace, harmony and grace for all concerned.
I cannot tell you how this blessed connection with you brings me home to myself again, because what I know of you is that you are blazing the truth through fire for the world. Along with multitudes of others doing their sacred holy work, we are all in this together as we all hold the space for the world – this quiet place of Spirit for all sentient beings.
So, I blanket you in a blessing of gratitude, celebrating and knowing for you that all you do is in radiant service as the fire in you blazes its golden truths which ascend into the Sacred Blue flames of Spirit’s absolute Love in, as, and through you.
In Love and Grace ~Ardyce
Ardyce,
Thank you so much for your response. We are on the same page!
I appreciate our connection and friendship. Thank you.
Love and Blessings,
Tom