~By Debbie Christopher
On purpose…With purpose…What is the purpose?…Purpose of life…
These are just a few of the references for the word purpose. As I chose this word for my word of the year, I wondered which one to focus on. How about all of them combined?
When my younger brother and I were growing up, we had those sibling moments when the ‘guilty’ party replied, “I did it on accident!” Then, the ‘victim’ remarked, “Yeah, right...accidentally on purpose!”
Surely, we weren’t the only ones to use that phrase.
Out of the various usages of the word purpose, the phrase ‘on purpose’ is the only one to carry with it a negative connotation. Allow me to make it a positive and keep it as part of my list.
The point is to have purpose and do things with purpose…on purpose.
Consider these definitions. PURPOSE :
the reason for which something exists or is done, made, used, etc.
determination; resoluteness.
the subject in hand; the point at issue.
practical result, effect, or advantage: to act to good purpose.
With purpose:
When you do something with purpose, you do it with determination. When your activities have a purpose, you have an aim or intention in mind. https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/purpose
On purpose…Thesauruses list intentional and deliberate as synonyms. In every thesaurus I checked, the sample sentence had the negative connotation mentioned above. But…we can change that.
So, purpose can be understood as the reason for which we are determined to intentionally fulfill a particular aim.
What, then, is our purpose for this new year?
Are we determined to intentionally be kind so that others see the love of Christ through our actions?
Are we determined to intentionally live graciously so that others see what grace is all about?
Are we determined to intentionally share our thankfulness so that others will see God’s faithfulness?
Let’s do 2022 on purpose!
DELIBERATELY on purpose~ Debbie
Intentional purpose!
So true. Intention can be good or evil. Do not let Satan win.