What if meaning comes “on the fly.” If the universe is unfolding through me life can’t but have a surprising freshness but also deep meaning. In fact it is impossible for life not to have meaning.
Why do I even bring this up? The number one type of counseling I did the first 6 years of ministry before there were more gifted staff to handle it, was not addiction counseling, or marriage, conflict, youth issues or aging parent counseling. The number one type by a long shot was “Ron, I don’t know what I want to be when I grow up.” The guy sitting in the other chair was 52 or 47, or getting ready to retire from a job at 62 years of age they had hated their whole life. But that IS precisely the point “being.” They had confused doing, vocation, job, the money maker, as what they “were.” But being and doing are profoundly different.
My bone fishing experience, my awakening, my enlightenment (the apostle Paul’s language when he prayed for people in Ephesus) my deepening awareness brought with it a very profound shift in my center and in my leadership. I had always felt a need to have a clear vision, direction, and some stated hoped for outcomes. I think there is nothing wrong with that and still coach people that direction. BUT BUT BUT…. there is something more.
What if meaning and purpose was being so fully present and so alert that God unfolded through you all sorts of synchronicities, serendipities, and “new things” he was wanting to do at that moment, on that day, in that confluence of orchestrated circumstances? In that way life has a profound purpose as we are the conduits of his kingdom and universe unfolding through our lives and our alertness.
This requires a different sort of vision and meaning/purpose paradigm. It is meaning “on the fly.” It is purpose in the moment. It is allowing who you are to be the aperture or grid through which God’s moment by moment activity and newness is mediated.
