Why am I here?

I hope the title of this post got you thinking.  I think that this is an important question that we all ask ourselves at some point.  And even if you feel like you have an answer to this question, I want you to answer it again in your head right now.  The knowledge of why is a very powerful thing.  If you were to ask anybody that knows me well, they would tell you that I ask a lot of questions.  For whatever reason, my mind is not satisfied with knowing that something "just is".  I want to know why that something exists, why it works, etc.  Many of my teachers I'm sure have gotten fed up with answering my multitude of questions.

But I am grateful for my constant desire to learn.  Because, as I said, the knowledge of why is a powerful thing.  If you didn't know why you went to work, would you go?  If you didn't know why you were going to school, would you go?  It's something to ponder.  "But Ben," you're thinking, "most people don't even care why, they just do it. They don't give a hoot one way or the other.  They just let life happen to them."

And that brings me to my point.  I believe there are three kinds of people in the world: those that know why, those that don't know why but want to know, and those that don't care one bit.

Most of you that read this, including myself, pretty much live in the third category.  We are what is affectionately called the blissfully ignorant, the reactive instead of proactive people.  We let the flow of life carry us on.  We go to school as a kid because that's the way it is.  We go to college because we have to get a job.  We get married because we want to.  We have kids and have a family because we feel it's important.  How many of us live life, just letting it pass us by, not wondering why on earth we are doing what we are doing?

But then there are the few that stop.  They stop in the middle of the rat race, look up, and say "why am I here?"  "What is the purpose of all of this?"  "If I knew why I am doing what I'm doing, I might be able to get a lot more done, to actually be something."

So, if you haven't already asked yourself, or haven't seriously thought about this until now, I ask you: "What is life all about?"  Why do you go to school, to work, why do you care so much about your family?  What purpose does it all have?

Let me tell you.

You existed before you were born.  You can't remember it, but at some past point, you jumped for joy at the thought of being able to be born into your family with your siblings and parents.  You chose, that's right: chose, to come to earth.  You're not here by accident.  You're not here because of some one in a trillion chance that life "materialized" on this planet.  You are here by divine design.

And when you're done here, you're going to back to where you came from.  You'll report on how you changed, what you learned, what you became.  There are many purposes in this life, but I think one of the main ones is that we need to learn who we are.  What makes you you.  You are here to learn how to love, how to make choices, how to serve, how to put others before yourself.  You are here to bless others' lives.  You are here to make the right choices when you can't see back before your birth to know they're the right choices.  You are here to gain faith and to exercise it.

And all of these purposes center on one figure: Jesus Christ.  He is the One that makes it possible for us to change who we are, to progress.  He showed us the perfect example of how to live life, of how to be a blessing to others, and He then paid the price for all of our mistakes in this life, thereby allowing us to return back from whence we came.

So again, what is life all about?  It's to learn, to progress, to not let life change you, but to change your life.  Christ stands with His arms outstretched, inviting us all to look up from our day-to-day drudgeries and realize why you do what you do, because once you know why, there's nothing that can stop you from reaching your goal.

-Ben Merrill

p.s.- I have not even shared the tip of the iceberg of what I know to be true about our purpose here on Earth.  If you have more questions, please feel free to comment below or send me a private email or Facebook message.  Ben Merrill - mer09006@byui.edu