What is our Purpose?

Last week I spotted this vehicle, while in thought, and I had to take a pic.  Isn't this the question of a lifetime?  What is our purpose?  Is there even a singular purpose for any of us?  Professionally, I have been repeatedly asking myself this question.  Yes, I am an attorney, but what is the purpose?  I graduated law school 10 years ago, in mid-twenties, when I barely understood myself.  What I thought was my purpose at that time has changed drastically.  And I imagine that my idea of myself will continue to change as I get older.  My ideas about work, about why I do it, how it can be useful and impactful to others, things I would have never considered 10 years ago, continue to shape who I am today.  And that person is vastly different than she was in 2007.

We have all been endowed with great gifts and talents, treasures in jars of clay, molded by the Lord Himself, to give Him glory.  The prayer is that our daily work will help us utilize those gifts in a way that glorifies the Lord.  But that may not be the case.  Is it possible that sometimes our purpose is not even tied to our gifts?  I think so.  Part of our reason for being here on this earth may be to help others in a way that has nothing to do with our gifts, but ultimately is still firmly rooted in our purpose of giving God glory.

There was a time that I thought that my purpose was to be a civil rights attorney.  I thought that I would be making lots of money, have my student loans paid off, never marry, never have kids and living life on my terms.  And then...I met my husband.  I fell in love and married him immediately after law school ended.  I got pregnant...and three children later, my life is nothing like I envisioned it, but it is something that I cherish and would never change.  I have never had a job that I truly desired - I have instead compromised and acquiesced to the Lord's provision for me, which is what I have truly needed.  And I am grateful for all of the places that I have worked.  For all of the great and all of the terrible people that I have met, for the stories I have to tell and for the blessings that I have received.  BUT, how is any of this tied into my professional purpose?

I don't know.  I do know that there is no such thing as a singular professional purpose, at least for me.  I do know that we can be used for and we can all do so many things.  Good and bad.  Professionally and unprofessionally.  But I wonder, today, if I am doing what I am supposed to do?  Is there something else out there that I am missing?  Am I blooming where I am planted?  Am I growing, learning, yielding to God's will for me in all areas of my professional life?