Sometimes life has a funny way of letting you know that you’re doing exactly what you are supposed to be doing.
The answers to the questions “What am I supposed to do with my life? What is my purpose?” are often subtle.
Other times they are loud and obnoxious, like when they come delivered in a helicopter hovering directly over your head while you’re trying to take an afternoon nap by your pool.
I was recently doing just that, when a chopper — not just any chopper, but the chopper belonging to the television station for which I work — startled me from my slumber.
At first, I wrote it off as a traffic helicopter covering an accident on Interstate-75, which is a stone’s throw from my house.
But when I looked up, I could clearly make out my station’s logo — Local 10 — on its side.
Like just about everyone else in the universe, I sometimes question my career path and wonder if there’s something else I should be doing that would add meaning to my life.
Being in the news business is especially trying because it’s mostly a doom and gloom kind of job that doesn’t have such a good reputation for adding meaning to people’s lives.
But then, just when I needed it most, life reminded me that my purpose is not about me. It’s about what God has put me here to do.
Your purpose is about what God — — or Life, Your Higher Power, Fate, or whatever you wish to call it — has put you here to do.
And if you’re too stubborn to listen to the subtle reminders, it sends a helicopter to deliver the message.
There I was in peaceful sleep, when God’s messenger sounded as if it would fall from the sky and land in my pool.
I immediately went into my zone.
Take photo, send to station, send a text message to a colleague to find out what was happening.
Then I did something that later would provide the moment of clarity that led to this article … I grabbed my keys, jumped in my car and started chasing the helicopter.
About a block from my house, I realized I wasn’t dressed in what you would call proper journalist attire.
Three blocks away I looked at the road long enough to notice the panicked look on the faces of a team of landscapers that I was about to run over.
Then it hit me. No sane person would have done what I did — unless it was part of their DNA, their purpose.
Journalism and chasing helicopters is in my blood. That passion is part of the reason I’m on this planet. It might not be the only reason, but I even though I sometimes lose focus, I am grateful and accept the gift I have been given — the purpose to which I was assigned.
What about you? Are you questioning your purpose or wondering what it is?
Well, then, relax and just wait for it. There might soon be a helicopter hovering over your head.
Trading Barbs With Barb 
but why was the helicopter there? was it a real helicopter covering a real story, or was it just a god helicopter? what if god was one of those landscapers? maybe you misread their expressions, and they urgently wanted to tell you your destiny but you thought it was panic. i was indeed questioning my purpose this morning, but now i’m turning the questioning on you 🙂
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The helicopter was there covering a real story — The call came in as a child hit by a car. Turns out a boy on a bike ran into a car. No one was seriously hurt.
I added a photo to prove it was a real helicopter. Although, the way it seemed to vanish the minute the story turned into a “non-story” may indicate that God was flying it.
And maybe I misinterpreted the message altogether.
Maybe the landscapers were God telling me that tending to people’s lawns and gardens is my real calling. But are the lawns and gardens to be taken literally or figuratively?
Or maybe, we’re not here to fulfill just one purpose or destiny.
Have you read “A Dog’s Purpose” ? It asks and answers that very question and the ending will surprise and delight you.
Your turn 🙂
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