“Two questions haunt every life” writes Andy Crouch.  “The first, 'what are we meant to be'.  The second, 'why are we so far from what we’re meant to be’.”

Mark Twain noted that the two greatest days in a man’s life are the day he is born and the day he finds out why.

…and yet there’s something freeing and powerful and debilitating and wonderful about knowing what we’re meant to be.  I sit with too many people that feel a tremendous pressure to figure out what they’re here for.  They talk of God’s will, their purpose, their vision and you can watch their eyes glass over as they distance themselves from their true fire and passion.

This quote has haunted me — thanks Andy — because it presumes that there is an explicit, notable, findable purpose for my life that is unique to me and worthy of a bumper sticker and because it suggests, nay - implores, that I should be in pursuit of this holy grail.  What if, ‘and this is a hypothetical’, what if the goal was to BE, not DO.  What if what I am ’meant to be’ is where I choose to be?  What if ‘flow’ is found in the pursuit of service, rather than the pursuit of vocational zen?

I’m not suggesting a resignation whereby I give up.  There’s a marked difference between teachers that love children and teachers that got into it for the summers off.  What I am suggesting is that I love the kids in front of me — that I serve them with vim and vigor and that perhaps I am ‘meant to be’ here, now, in love.

…all the while, pursing a Truer, more authentic version of the here and now, refining my understanding along the way.  I wonder if we arrest ourselves by seeking something that’s right in front of us — like finding ‘the perfect mate’