Stop Taking Up Space—Start Making a Difference

Stop Taking Up Space—Start Making a Difference

What is our purpose here on earth? Do we have a purpose, and do

all living organisms serve some purpose? Let’s explore it more closely.

Last night I found a snail. No big deal. But I found the snail attached

to the inside of an electric timer inside a large plastic storage bin. Now,

what was amazing to me was that the storage bin had been closed for

one year, only accessed last Christmastime, some twelve months ago.

Yet, when I opened it up, there was a live snail. The miracle of life! I

wondered how that snail, deep inside the large storage bin, could have

survived. What did it eat and drink? And surviving in total darkness!

Now, I am sure that there is some explanation, but I simply marvel at

the perseverance and survival instinct of all living things.

What is the purpose of it all? From the moment of birth, each form

of life has a purpose, a pre-programmed cycle we must follow, much like

the cycles of seasons that change. Most living things have inbred cycles

of routines and schedules. Take, for instance, the cicada. The cicada is

an insect that lives approximately one to eight feet underground and

emerges only once every seventeen years. When they do emerge, many

thousands of them emerge at the same time, resulting in a great deal of

noise. Purpose, cycle, routine!

We are much like insects. I believe that we act like insects. Take the

ant. An ant farm is very organized, with leaders and workers, each with

a purpose and a structured life cycle. Our lives, in many ways, seem to

mirror some of nature. It is important for us to be cognizant of this so

we may be able to adjust our lives accordingly, and strive onward where

others may merely be complacent.

     “I am here for a purpose and that purpose is to grow into a mountain,

not to shrink to a grain of sand. Henceforth I will apply ALL my efforts to

become the highest mountain of all and I will strain my potential until it

cries for mercy.”

—Og Mandino

How many individuals do only what they have to, just to get to the

next day? Their workday is basically performing tasks they are told to

do and no more. They treat work like some form of punishment, just to

survive till that clock hits five o’clock, telling them that they can rush

out the door and race home. Not once do they act as if the company

they are working for is theirs. Many workers today have little pride in

their work. I see it many times throughout my day and in my travels.

Maybe this is because they have no real goal to get ahead or rise above

the average workers around them. Maybe they have no long-term goals,

no intense, burning desire with regard to the work they are involved in.

Or maybe they dislike their line of work, just tolerating it in exchange

for a paycheck.

I observe many people that are being well paid to work all day, yet I

see them loafing. It’s as if they are impatiently waiting to go home. They

are cheating their employer, themselves, their families, and, above all,

their God. Just another wasted day, being unproductive.

Martin Luther King said it best: “If a man is called to be a street

sweeper, he should sweep streets even as Michelangelo painted, or

Beethoven composed music, or Shakespeare wrote poetry. He should

sweep streets so well that all the hosts of Heaven and earth will pause to

say here lived a great street sweeper who did his job well.”

C-2011 John Paul Carinci from the book: An All-Consuming Desire To Succeed