Early in my career as a business owner, a pull existed that I could not shake. Somebody needed help with a hiring decision. ‘Say yes’. An organization with no funds wanted a keynote requiring travel and stay. ‘Say yes’. A young woman needed mentoring, a community needed a voice. ‘Yes’ to all of it. The desire to be a super-shero who could leap tall buildings was real; I would fly around helping everyone who asked.
Eventually, it was too much. At the end of the day, when the cape and stilettos came off, there was just a mere mortal standing there. Something had to be left over for the family, and for me. Yet I did not know what to say yes to and what to say no to.
My spiritual advisor is a man admired tremendously in my home. He gives wise counsel. Even more, he helps me think about things in a different way. He helped work through this desire to be a super-shero. He said, “The important thing in life is to know your ministry. Your ministry isn’t to work long hours so you can give every person whatever they ask for. Your ministry is what you are passionate about and gifted to. Once you identify your ministry, then you can passionately give to what, and where, you care about. Giving with passion to one or two things is more powerful than giving to many things out of a sense of obligation.”
That made perfect sense.
What Ministry Actually Means
The realization came quickly after: the ministry was the business and all of its employees. That was where passion and purpose aligned. When we are in business, the first working responsibility is to that business. When we are not expanding, satisfying our customers, and serving our employees, that is the signal to work more inside the business, not less; not to scatter the effort further outside it.
His counsel also settled a question that used to feel impossible: which charities and nonprofits to support. Hundreds of requests come in each year. Every one of them is worthwhile. We cannot support them all. Knowing the ministry makes the answer clear. Passion for education runs deep. So any education-related request that comes in, we look at seriously and now vet from there. That does not mean there is no care for the others. It means the investment is intentional rather than scattered.
There is an immediate difference between someone passionately committed and someone going through obligated motions. People who are passionately committed have identified their ministry; they know what they have to offer the world. It is the thing they will do regardless.
Let Your Dreams Build Your Purpose
As a teenager, a label got attached to me that was worn without much protest: daydreamer. Sunday school, for me, had a way of sparking the imagination, and Mama heard all of it. One Sunday, a rush of big ideas came home with me, the way teenagers do, fast and certain and unfinished. It led to one of the few times my mother was disappointed to the point of frustration.
She said, “Baby, you come up with all of these great ideas and big dreams, but then you don’t follow through on them. Why don’t you write down those dreams and then figure out a plan for how you’re going to make them happen? Whatever you’re dreaming about, make it your purpose. Then you’ll stay focused on it and make it happen.”
Mama was right. She still is. A great deal was written about ActOne before day one of its existence. The writing made it real enough to plan for; the plan made it real enough to build.
Your Ministry Will Come to You
From a very young age, there was a knowing that doing good was the direction. That desire came from the world around me, not just from any single place of worship. Yet figuring out exactly how to do good, what form it would take, where it would land, happened over time and not on a schedule.
My minister once said, “You don’t have to search for your ministry. It will come to you when you’re ready, if you live on the path of doing good as you do well.”
What that asks of us is simpler than it sounds: be open and pay attention. When your life’s purpose comes to you, it does not always come as a whisper. You will not miss it if you are paying attention to how you live and what you are doing. One day you will discover where you will make your imprint on the world and how you will do your good thing. Then, for the rest of your life, you will know your ministry.
What We Do with All of This
Men and women eventually find themselves asking the question: “What do I do with all of this? I’ve built a career, so what? What now?” It is a common question. The answer lies in that ministry, that good thing that each of us must identify for ourselves.
When you find your ministry, focus on it with passion. Then maybe when you reach this stage of life, you too will have something worth sharing with the next generation.
God bless you.
Thank you for this clear reflection! I focused on my ministry first and am now ready to develop that fully into a business. God bless you too.