What are We Here for Really?

What if the meaning of life is actually not that complicated?

What if we’re here, walking around on this spinning planet,

not to figure everything out,

but simply to contribute a little love along the way?

To become people who can give love and receive it (yes, that part too),

with some humility, using whatever odd and wonderful mix of gifts

we’ve been handed, and letting that love quietly ripple outward.

I’m not talking about epic, movie-trailer love.

No dramatic music required. No sainthood applications.

Just the everyday kind.

The kind made up of things like:

showing up, using your gifts (teaching, guiding, creating, fixing, imagining, comforting, learning ... there are so many ways),

helping where you can, and muddling through the rest.

All the while:

• actually caring about people (apparently still radical)

• trusting God even when things feel foggy and sideways

• staying present when disappearing would be far easier

• telling the truth, but without swinging it like a hammer

• noticing the sacred tucked into ordinary, forgettable moments

• letting grief soften you instead of turning you to stone

• helping someone find their way when they’re lost (including yourself)

• offering kindness with no receipt attached

  
  

At the heart of this kind of meaning is relationship ...

with God

with people you love,

with the wider world,

and with the continually-unfinished version of yourself.

It turns out it’s the small, faithful choices ... the ones no one sees ...

that quietly stack up and make a life matter.

Life isn’t something to solve.

It’s something to enter into, fully, honestly,

with your whole heart in tune with God.

So maybe, when all is said and done, the meaning of life is this:

to become more deeply yourself,

to let that self become a gift,

and to walk through the world with an open, curious, courageous, grateful heart ...

even when that very heart is a little shaky.

Especially then.

And, believe me, this isn't easy.