The Day You Find Out Why

Very nice post by Sensing today:

Someone once said that the two most important days of your life are the day you were born and the day you discover why.

George Bernard Shaw wrote, "This is the true joy in life, the being used for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one: the being thoroughly worn out before you are thrown on the scrap heap, and being a force of nature instead of a feverish selfish little clod of ailments and grievances, complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you happy."

Contrast that with a sign found on a shop's door in New York one morning: "Gone out of business. Didn't know what our business was."

"More men fail through lack of purpose than lack of talent," said Evangelist Billy Sunday.

Robert Kohler wrote, “There are different kinds of voices calling you to different kinds of work, and the problem is to find out which” voice is the call of God rather than the voice of self interest, cultural values or something else. “The kind of work that God usually calls you to do is the kinds of work that you need most to do and that the world most needs to have done.”

“The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet” (Frederick Buechner). That's why you were born, and when you find it you know you came to it for just such a time as this.

There is a story about Yogi Berra, the famous catcher for the New York Yankees, and Hank Aaron, who at that time was the chief power hitter for the Milwaukee Braves. The teams were playing in the World Series, and as usual Yogi kept up a ceaseless chatter, intended both to encourage his teammates and distract Milwaukee's batters.

As Aaron came to the plate, Yogi tried to distract him by saying, "Hank, you're holding the bat wrong. You're supposed to hold it so you can read the trademark." Aaron didn't say anything, but when the next pitch came he hit it into the left-field bleachers. After rounding the bases and tagging up at home plate, Aaron looked at Yogi Berra and said, "I didn't come here to read."