Who do you want to be when you grow up?
It’s a question often asked of us in society because we were designed as curious beings – always wanting to know what the future has in store. Well today I want to challenge this statement: Should we be choosing a career path or ideal to strive towards? Is our purpose in life to always be WANTING more? Or is our purpose much grander?
Ask yourselves:
What were you designed for? What reason is there behind your gifts and talents?
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Do you think you can predict or imagine what your purpose is?
Probably not.
Our world would be a different place if that were the case.
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So you might wonder how it’s possible to follow your purpose or calling in life if you don’t know what it is.
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Well one question you might want to ask yourself is: are you content?
Are you satisfied with who you are?
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As Sam Chand says:
No matter where you are in life – perhaps a bad relationship, a financial struggle, a stressful season, an unfruitful job – your circumstance does not define WHO you are. Although what you go through in life is significant, this is the WHERE which we need to disconnect from the WHO.
WHERE you are may shape and influence WHO you are in one way or another,
but your sense of WHO you are will be your wellspring of contentment and purpose.
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You might wonder then… WHO are you?
The superhero you wanted to be when you were younger?
No- my friends, you are PEOPLE OF PURPOSE.
You are the princes and princesses of a King who has given you a purpose.
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Let me share a beautiful analogy from Sam Chand which inspired the title of this piece:
“When I grow up I want to be… a teabag!”
Chand’s analogy begins with a pot of boiling water.
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Do you know what happens when an egg or carrot is placed in boiling water?
The egg will go from soft to hard. The carrot will go from hard to soft.
So those who are inserted into the water will be changed permanently.
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However, do you know what happens when a teabag is placed in boiling water?
It is the water that is changed permanently.
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The teabag goes to the water:
“I’m going to change your name from water to tea”
“I’m going to change you from colourless to colourful”
“I’m going to change your chemistry from H2O to a complex compound”
“I’m going to change your… DNA, culture, taste, aroma, etc.”
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How does this correlate to WHO you are and whether you’re truly living as a PERSON OF PURPOSE? Well the water is the WHERE – it’s our surroundings, our current situation, which has the potential to change us and resultantly affect our contentment.
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The teabag is what happens when you live reminded of WHO you are.
The teabag doesn’t let the water or the WHERE change it’s character or purpose.
The teabag may look flimsy and weak, but on the inside it’s strong and potent.
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Chand’s analogy makes us consider whether we are truly being WHO we are by transforming the WHERE, WHAT, WHEN and HOW of life rather than letting them transform us.
Ask yourselves these questions:
When you walk down a street or into a room – does anything happen?
If someone is having a bad day – does this change when your day intersects with theirs?
Do the helpless find help and the hopeless find hope in your presence?
I love this