This morning, I was reflecting on one of the best feelings a person can have. The feeling when you’re doing what you know you’re supposed to be doing.
Growing up, I always loved seeing my friends get a long, especially when I happened to be the one to introduce those friends to one another. I always got a lot of joy watching a mate from one friend group enter into the circle of another friend group, only to have the two friend groups mesh together and create a massive, new friend group. I wouldn’t have called it this one I was 12, but it was a passion, and when you’re a teenager and you start to grow up, you begin to wonder how you can translate your passions into jobs and your jobs into careers, but my passion, obviously, was pretty unique.
What was I going to do with this weird passion I had of convening people and watching them form friendships out of those introductions? I certainly wasn’t going to pursue a career in match-making, but surely there had to be something out there ‘where my greatest joy met the world’s greatest need,’ as the great Frederick Buechner said. After all, I highly doubted the world needed another match-maker (although Bumble and Tender turned out to be pretty successful), but surely, the world needed something that fit what I loved to do.
And it did, and it still does. It just always looks a little different for each season of life, as the world changes and as I change. But really, there’s no feeling quite like the first time life hits the nail on the head for you and you get a phone call that says, “Yes, we’ve got a job that fits exactly what you’re describing.”
Whatever that may be for you as you pursue finding that passion and purpose, I pray that you sit in that, ‘Aha!’ feeling of finding that illusive happiness. And it may be a lifelong pursuit, but don’t stop. It’s worth every second.
-Cliff
Cliff’s Note: The pursuit of finding your passion is never a wasted journey, no matter its length.