“The place God calls you to be is the place where your deep joy and the world’s deep hunger meet.” ~ Henri Nouwen
I have said this many times and I will always maintain it. It is my belief that God desires us to be happy and fulfilled. I think we can all agree with that. God does not create us so that we can be miserable and unfulfilled. He wants us to be happy and believe that our lives have meaning. That is what I have always told people who came up to me because they were trying to discern what they should do in their future.
Whenever a young person would come to me for some guidance on what he or she should be or go into after high school, I always asked them the simple question, “What makes you happy?” When we can determine what not only makes us happy but also fills us with deep joy, we will know the path we should take in life. Pursue that path and you will never be disappointed.
I know many people who have had incredibly bad days at work. At least that’s what people looking in from the outside would say. Things didn’t go right. Something may have backfired on them. Plans got scuttled. However, at the end of the day, they talked about how much they looked forward to returning to work the following day to continue their efforts because that gives them great joy.
If we are where we are supposed to be, if we are doing what brings us great joy, there can be no bad day. Only days that challenge and give us opportunity. If we look at someone and say to ourselves, “I could never do that. That would not make me happy.” we need to listen to ourselves and not pursue that kind of life. If, on the other hand, we look at someone, even in their struggles, and say, I would love to do that. I could see myself in that. That would make me happy.” I would say pursue it!
FAITH ACTION: Ask God for the gift of discernment so that you may always be exactly where He calls you to be.