Of Mission

Yesterday’s blog focused on ‘the story of place’. Today I want to simply focus on mission, or purpose. What is my purpose for living? What is yours? Is it merely to survive? Or are their other missions we are called to do? To be happy? To populate our communities? To build family and meaningful relationships which become resources to build mission-oriented communities?

Is our purpose all about career? Earning a living? Amassing wealth? Building institutions that serve the needs of the community and of individuals in need?

Purpose and mission. For now I will use those terms interchangeably.

The journey of each of our lives from birth to death, is the story of the in-between passage of time.  How we transit through that time has interest and value. Or should. Because the challenges of the journey make unique our personal experiences, each journey is a tale unto itself. You have a journey. There are others connected with your journey, usually the early years of childhood. And of nurture and family building of your own – romance, marriage and child rearing of your own generation. And their generations.

Cross referencing adjacent journeys tells the story of community and neighborhood and society.  It all depends on the size and complexity of the settlement. Big fish in small pond, or a large fish in a very large lake. The journeys differ from time to time and place to place.

And so does the mission change. It is called to be relevant in some fashion.

How is that for you? Is your mission clear? Is your relevance known and healthy? Where are you on your journey. And how many ‘others’ find space in our story?

October 27, 2012

PS: Tuesday I received my first treatment for a herniated disk in my lower spine. An injection of steroids directly into the nerves and disk were designed to curb swelling and restore nerve function.  Oddly the treatment worked quietly. By the wee hours of the morning on Wednesday, my sleep was interrupted by lack of pain and enhanced free movement of hips and legs.

That freedom opened other thoughts and the last two days of blogs wrote themselves! You might have found my ideas on the cosmos a little out of place at first, but now you know how they came about. The basics are important, don’t you think?

GS