The subject of the sermon at church on Sunday was Saul, who became Paul and his life’s work. The most interesting takeaway for me was not necessarily a religious one, but a question about life in general and people that achieve amazing things.

Did Paul realize what his life’s mission was when he was alive or do we summarize what we believe it was based on his achievements and activities?

This is a relevant question for anyone who desires to make a lasting impression on the world, whether or not it is a religious cause. This same line of questioning can be applied based on any person of great achievement; my questioning just happened to start during a church service.

Paul’s mission was to reach and convert an entire people group known as Gentiles that had not been included in Jewish traditions before Christ. He started out just as passionately working against the cause until a miraculous conversion that resulted in him working passionately for this cause.

I wonder if he realized that he had a very singular purpose to his life? Most likely he did. Whether or not he could articulate it in one sentence is unknown. I would guess that he was very purposeful in his actions, communications and decisions towards a singular objective.   Since there were not elevators in that day do you think they had another term for the “elevator pitch”? Maybe it was the “well pitch” since you maybe made small talk while you got a drink at the well and wanted to be able to tell people very succinctly what you do for a living.

This makes me wonder if I have a singular purpose for my life. At this stage I definitely cannot define it for you in one sentence. There seem to be multiple objectives. I feel like I may waffle between them at different times of influence or excitement about a particular mission. I would love to have a singular purpose, because then it gets much easier to prioritize, make decisions, agree or disagree to take specific actions or meetings and judge my achievements. If I had one underlying cause, what would it be?  It must be something that could apply to every aspect of my life, because the dynamics would not change very much. I will still value my marriage, my children, having a job, my faith, friendships, etc. So how could one overall statement or mission guide my entire life?

Does it choose me or do I choose it?

Is it even possible in the modern world to be focused on a singular mission?