Our Purpose, Our Hope

Earlier this month we compared hope to our purpose and recognizing that purpose as being as vital as the air we breathe. When I was reading a magazine article about Mike Rowe who started the series “Dirty Jobs” I learned that he began exploring the dirty jobs other people did to make everyone’s lives more pleasant. He decided to do this because his grandfather was one of those men who could do anything. He could fix what needed repair whether it was electrical, mechanical, plumbing related or all of the above. Mike Rowe felt that this kind of honest, hard work so important to us all, and the people who completed it, were not given the credit they deserved. Talk about purposeful work! Where would we be without the sewer repair guys or the chicken farmers of the world?

Our own work may not be as dirty, but we all hope it will be as meaningful. Mike Rowe talked about his own transition from working for a paycheck to loving the work he does so much that he rarely takes a day off. May we all find meaning in our work – our vocation or our mission– and have hope that our purpose for doing it has an equally meaningful place in the lives of others.