Enjoy the Process

Tag: vision

  • Find Your Purpose in Life Over Resolutions

    The beginning of a new year.

    It doesn’t really have much intrinsic value or significance. Yet, we look forward to it and celebrate with big countdowns, cheers, and kisses. We reset our mental and emotional clocks and dig deep to find a different will-power to achieve our New Year resolutions. We want to get more fit. We want to be happier. We want to be a better person.

    I stopped believing in making New Year resolutions from an early age. It was pointless. The new calendar year did not provide any magical power or motivation to achieve previous resolutions, thus I stopped believing.

    However, finding purpose in life, has been a game changer. It works, not only at the start of a new calendar year, but through the mundane rhythms of life. It works on a macro scale, providing framework and direction. It works on a micro scale to provide daily tasks and goals.

    I have searched wide and far for the meaning and purpose in life. I will save that full story for another time. But for now, I want to start this new, calendar year of 2021 with documenting my purpose in life.

    Purpose
    Participate in creating a new creation.

    Vision
    I want to leave whomever I come in contact with a little more loved,
    I want to leave whatever I touch a little more beautiful,
    I want to leave wherever I go a little more cleaner,
    I want to see a good, new creation.

    Mission
    Participate in healthy living and healthy working.
    Participate in loving relationships.
    Participate in rich thinking and learning.
    Participate in proper reflection and worship.

    Participation is key here.

    Not everyone may share the same beliefs that I do, but for those who claim to worship and love YHWH, Jesus Christ, Father, Son, and Spirit, for those who submit to biblical authority, for those who don the confusing title of Christian, participation is key.

    Understanding the biblical narrative, which thus shapes and overarches our own narratives, invites the people of God to participate in the mission of God. It is not our own mission that we devise ourselves. Often times I have found that I tried mixing secular wisdom of finding one’s own purpose with simply participating in the grand purpose of God. The syncretism of these values express itself in modern, Western Christian teaching as, “finding God’s calling for me.” It sounds holy, but in reality it is simply using the holy name of God masked around our own selfish desires and pursuits.

    Participation is key, because it reminds me that life is much bigger than my own little ideas and values. It is easy to drink the Kool-Aid of modern, post-modern life and believe that I am the most important person in the world. If that is true, then I determine my own purpose, not the constricting values of society or archaic philosophy of religion. The Kool-Aid tastes good at first, but at the end of the day, it is made up of artificial sugars and false promises. However much we want to believe that we are autonomous, self-enlightened, rationale beings, we all have been influenced and shaped by values bigger than we can see. What we want to listen to, what we want to shape our lives, is our choice. And that is why participation frees us from the tyranny of both institutional oppression and individual self-fulfillment.

    One does not have to look far to see that 2020 into the beginning of 2021 has not been a very good year for most. As much as we have advanced as society, we are still plagued by microscopic viruses that make the strongest leaders and people crumble to their knees. Global and local tension highlight a lack of peace and unity, despite all the movements towards harmony. Our earth is being raped of all its goodness by the very people that depend on her. And while Christianity and Christians have not always been the hero, the narrative that God is writing, the author of life and history, is one where there will be a new creation. And this is not a new purpose, a beautiful, good creation was the intent from the beginning, and will be fulfilled in the time to come. It is this story I want to be a part of, it is the story of God that I want to participate in. And the beauty of participation is that I can still be me, I can bring what little I have and offer it as I simply build along side the ultimate Creator.

    This purpose, has shaped my vision, and has given me a particular mission. It is a holistic approach to loving and worshiping God. And with it, I am excited to tackle 2021. I am excited about weekly plans.

    I am excited about each day that I can participate in creating a new creation.

  • The Visionary

    The Chief Executive Officer (CEO)—It would be a lie if I were to say that I never wanted to be a CEO of.. anything. The title symbolizes status, power, authority. However, once I started working at a medium-size company, I wondered, what do CEOs even do? It seemed like most of them we either know of or hear about play golf the majority of their time and their paycheck consists of way too many zeros.

    However, having worked at a startup company, alongside many other aspiring entrepreneurs, I came across a different kind of CEO. For one, there were way too many CEOs in one room and I realized that the highly regarded title is just that—a title. Just because I slap on a few extra letters after my name, doesn’t mean anything, it doesn’t prove anything. The value and worth of an individual is not defined by what degrees or titles they’ve achieved, but is defined by who they are.

    Another discovery was that there are also a lot of CEOs with not enough zeros in their paycheck. It’s the #truelife of a hustler. But with knowing this reality, I’ve realized that these individuals are another breed of leaders. These CEOs don’t have enough time in their day for rounds of golf, rather they work longer and harder hours than a first year analyst at an investment firm.

    Visionaries

    CEOs as founders of a company also possess something that no other coworker, employee, or investor may have—vision.

    I recently did an exercise with a CEO of a company and was asked, “What would this company look like 20 years from now without any limitations?” I sat there and pondered, trying to imagine the highest potential for the company and its reach to redeem the creative arts. Being a relatively creative person myself, I shared my thoughts and believed it was a good swing at the task at hand.

    However, what I soon realized was that the most grandiose vision that I could have imagined paled in comparison to the original creator (i.e., the CEO). Even as a past employee, having worked different facets of the company, even as an educated individual with a creative and explorative mind, my “wildest” imagination of what the pinnacle of success for this company would look like was nothing to what the founder had already planned and dreamed of before inception.

    I shared that this company would allow people to have access to the best artists in remote villages of Africa for their cultural awareness event. The CEO shared that the president of a country rebuilding its war torn lands would utilize the platform to gather multiple artists, architects, designers, and performers, to showcase the strength and unification of the country as a demonstration and proclamation to the rest of the world. My mind was blown away..

    How much more so…

    After the five hour meeting of brainstorming for the future growth of the company, I normally would’ve felt exhausted; however, an epiphany began to take shape from what seemed as an ordinary work related experience.

    I know I am a smart individual. I know I have had many different experiences in life that I’ve also reflected on that has shaped my character and my perspective. However, in the end that didn’t matter in the context of this company and the original creator’s vision.

    And on the bus ride back home, was when I began reflecting on the Original Creator. The Creator of the universe and the earth. The ultimate CEO.

    How much more trivial would our visions be as we try to compare our wisdom and knowledge to a God of the universe, creator of our lives, the “companies” we operate in, trying to add value and meaning when it is only the Good Father who truly knows best. I realized that I used to think that I knew best, that I held the most rationale opinions on complex issues, that I have given the most thought to various matters pertaining to my life and my surroundings. But as I continue this journey of life and faith, I realize how insignificant I am compared to the vastness that is God and simply for that reason, I exalt Thee.