Pour Over: Chasing Meaning and Purpose

Have you ever witnessed something so grand and spectacular that it made you feel minuscule and insignificant compared to the vastness and beauty of it? If not, I encourage you to gaze upon the stars on a clear night far from any city or light pollution, or take a trip to see the giant redwoods in California, the Grand Canyon in Arizona, Niagara Falls in New York, etc. All of these wondrous experiences cause us to do a bit of self reflection and ask the question, "what is my purpose amongst all of this?"

I would venture to guess that every person who has ever lived has asked themselves that very question. Purpose and meaning are what drive us to participate in this fantastic adventure we call life. Sadly, far too many people don't find direction or significance and give up on the adventure. Perhaps just as sad is that so many people find a motive and pursue it vehemently for years and years only to find out that it did not bring the gratification they were seeking. So the real question is, "what purpose is there for my life that will actually bring me the satisfaction I long for?"

Our society has proven that fame, fortune, higher education, career success, partying, drugs, alcohol, adventure, thrills, etc all fall short in bringing us long-term motivation and contentment. If any of them succeeded, the happiest and most fulfilled people would be in America because we have so much opportunity for all of these things. So why do we seem so miserable? Why do we have an extremely high rate of anxiety, depression and suicide? Why is it that some of the most joyous people I've met in my life live in extreme poverty in the remote villages of West Africa? This is very strong evidence that we are missing something.

There is somehow a beauty that comes in the struggle for the most basic necessities of life. Life becomes simpler in the sense that you don't need to discover what career you want to pursue or how you will save money for retirement; you are simply focused on doing whatever it takes to survive and provide for your family. Instead of depending on yourself, you are forced to depend on something bigger. You also begin to find joy in the simplest of things instead of having hundreds of things vying for your attention and robbing you of your happiness. In the villages of West Africa I've witnessed children light up because they found a tin can they can use as a soccer ball. I've seen adults overjoyed simply because I've sat down with them to enjoy some tea and conversation. Where are these simple joys in our lives?

One evening as I lay beneath the vast night sky in one of those villages, I gazed up at the enumerable stars in awe. I was brought to tears both by their magnificent beauty and by the insignificance they made me feel. Who was I as one person out of billions on a planet amongst trillions of other planets and stars? What purpose could I possibly serve that actually mattered in the grand scheme of things? The answer that came to me was that my motivation had to originate from something even more expansive and tremendous than the stars themselves for it to bring me any real fulfillment.

We can calculate, contemplate and debate the origins of creation and the world around us all we want, but anyone who has ever witnessed or studied the most awe-inspiring parts of creation from the complexity of cells or the intricate design of individual snowflakes to the largest natural wonders of the world cannot deny an inner stirring that there had to be some grand creator of all this. There is no way so much beauty and sophistication could come by chance or simply develop over time. The more we study any piece of creation, the more it screams of a Master Creator.

"The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork."

-Psalm 19:1

"But ask the beasts, and they will teach you; the birds of the heavens, and they will tell you; or the bushes of the earth, and they will teach you; and the fish of the sea will declare to you. Who among these does not know that the hand of the Lord has done this? In His hand is the life of every living thing and the breath of all mankind."

-Job 12:7-10

I propose that our longing for purpose and meaning can only be fully satisfied by one thing, God Himself. He created each person for a reason that fits into a grand design beyond comprehension, but we chase after the meaningless things of this world in vanity like striving after the wind (Ecclesiastes 1:14). Maybe you don't believe in God, or maybe you feel like God has failed you, and you have no desire to build your life around Him. I challenge you to take another look; take a deep dive into the Bible. Study, pray and ask God to make Himself known to you if He is real. Think of the possibilities of finding motivation and peace in the Eternal One who was and is and is to come, a motivation that can never be taken away and will bring fulfillment beyond your wildest dreams. I did it, and my life has had an incredible amount of meaning and clarity ever since. It's one of the only decisions I've ever made that has never produced any regrets. If you're tired of striving for purpose with no success, give God a chance. What do you have to lose?