The answer is right there

We all seek meaning in our lives. We all seek a reason to move forward; a point to it all. This is a simple truth.

Though some of us may deny that we do.

The fact is even those of us who are not deep philosophical thinkers still search for purpose … even if we are not aware we are doing it. Either our purpose is really clear to so that we don’t actually have to look for it, or we don’t feel the need to bring the search to a conscious level. But either way it still is a driving motivation in every decision we make … even if we don’t think it is.

The irony is that often the question never arises until bad things happen in our lives. Things go wrong and suddenly we start asking why. “Why?” is kind of the gateway question. Once that is asked … it is not a far leap to “What is the meaning of it all?”, or “What am I doing in this world?”

This kind of thinking can lead to a trap. If we get too caught up in questioning, especially if the questions have been spawned from negative events in our lives, we might actually miss the answers. It is like being in the desert, dying of thirst because we are searching  for a bit of ground water that is not there, not even recognizing the cactus that could be our salvation.

The answer to any deep question is actually always right in front of us. The trick is being able to recognize it. And not blinding ourselves with expectations … because sometimes the answers may surprise us. Or worse be other than what we would prefer. There is nothing wrong with questions of course. Questioning is how we learn … how we better ourselves. But like just about everything in ours lives … it is possible to go overboard.  We need to eat to survive … yet too much food (especially the wrong kind) and we can kill ourselves in other ways. Questions encourage us to think; they help us break molds and push our boundaries. But if we question TOO much, we end up tearing our own psyches apart. And never actually finding any answers.

I have been doing this to myself all too often lately. And once again yesterday it was a couple little things in the yard that gave me a good slap upside the head and set this whole thought process in motion. One a plant growing out of birdseed in a bird-feeder. The other a mouse nesting in our grill.

The simple message they relayed:

JUST DO THE BEST THAT YOU CAN.

Whatever deeper meaning we may want to find in our lives, this basic purpose is something ALL life shares.