This post is a bit different from my usual posts. Yesterday I joined a group of folks who committed to a challenge from Jeff Goins (jeff@goinswriter.com) to write a minimum of 500 words per day for the next 31 days. At this moment, this feels like a significant challenge to my ability and perseverance.
Here’s where hope enters in. I fervently desire to communicate with folks concerning the purpose and promise of hope. To put it another way, I am eager to have conversations with folks using the following statement as the focal point of our dialogue – “every life should have a noble purpose”.
What I mean by a noble purpose is any sustained, intentional activity that serves as a means to lessen the suffering of another. I believe our lives must serve some function other than just fulfilling self-serving ambition. Our lives should be an example of the goodness that one person can offer another.
So the thing for which I hope is that as you read my posts (especially for the next 31 days) and enter into dialogue concerning how folks might live with a noble purpose in mind, that we will begin to see the great impact our lives can have on others. I hope that the gentle satisfaction you experience in helping to alleviate sources of suffering will reinforce how blessed you are in your life.
Each of us carries our share of suffering. Each of us experience grief, sorrow, anxiety, and dis-ease. But if we work at easing the suffering of others, perhaps we will find remedies for our own suffering.
Someone once said to me, “you teach best what you most need to know.” I believe the hope of our world is found in attending to others who are in distress or who are overwhelmed in their lives. Serving the needs of others will also serve to meet our needs. Living a life with a noble purpose is one means in which we can serve others who are in need.
“You can hold back from the suffering of the world, you have free permission to do so, and it is in accordance with your nature, but perhaps this very holding back is the one suffering you could have avoided.” (Franz Kafka – 1883-1924)
So in the next 31 days as I struggle with developing a habit for writing, I invite you to visit my blog from time to time and reflect on the noble purpose for which you live. I invite you to seek out the purpose and promise of hope in your life. Oh and there may be some off-topic surprises that show up too.
Just an aside, I apologize to my blog subscribers who may not be getting updates as I post them. I am having ongoing difficulty with my email list builder and related software. I hope to have it fixed soon.
I used to think my writing was only about my self interest, making my purpose a narrow one. Then one day my daughter read one of my manuscripts and said, “Mom, children need your stories.” She completely changed how I thought of my own work.
You have an extraordinary daughter and real time critic. You are indeed blessed by her insight. A noble purpose has been uncovered. And that has made all the difference. Jon