Measuring Purpose. A tree does not hear the sound of its own growth. That was a very clear message to me. I am analytical to a fault. Plan your work, work your plan, should be on my family crest. I think what I experience is something many people feel: a deep need to know if we are living our intended purpose.
Ephesians 2:10, “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.”
The deeper challenge for us may not be determining whether our lives have meaning. Rather, it may be coming to understand that we may need to accept that meaningful lives often feel unfinished, uncertain, and insufficient while they are lived. Most of what we do, including mentoring, teaching, evangelizing, helping the underserved, communicating, encouraging, and character development, is a slow-burning influence system. We are unlikely to see most of our impact directly.
Influence usually travels farther than emotion can track.
Dr. William Leslie
Dr. William Leslie was a medical missionary who went to the Congo in 1912. He served in a remote jungle region among the Yansi people for about 17 years. On the surface, the mission was deeply discouraging: little visible response, isolation, harsh conditions, and seemingly minimal lasting impact.
Eventually, discouraged and physically worn down, he returned to the United States, believing his efforts had largely failed. He died years later, unaware of whether his work had produced anything of substance.
But decades later — in 2010 — missionaries and researchers traveled to the same remote region expecting almost no Christian influence to remain. Instead, they found multiple thriving churches, a large network of believers, villages with established worship communities, and even a large stone church deep in the jungle.
The local communities still trace much of the original gospel influence to Leslie’s early work and to the seeds sown during those difficult years.
Living Our Purpose
Romans 8:28, “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.”
God does not waste effort. He does not leave obedience unrewarded. God lives outside of time. He knows the task He has set before you and the results that will come from that obedience. The results may lie over the horizon. We are time-constrained beings who measure change over time, but God does not. The ripple effect of a single conversation may take generations to bear meaningful fruit. Yet that conversation needs to happen today to bear fruit somewhere in the future.
“God never said the journey would be easy, but He did say the arrival would be worthwhile.” – Max Lucado.
Be Encouraged
Do not stop doing what God has put in your heart. God smiles at every effort, gesture, and meaningful moment. He alone knows why you are passionate. He created that passion in you. I have learned to judge my impact not by the number of saved souls or changed lives, but by the effort I put in. I must be comfortable doing what God wants of me, even when I do not always know why.
Proverbs 19:21 “Many are the plans in a person’s heart, but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails.”
So often, I want to stop because I can’t see the impact. I don’t see the reason to keep going. But I am always reminded that this isn’t my plan; it’s God’s. My job is simple: obedience. God rewards me with a kind word or an unexpected compliment, just enough to keep me going.
That simple gesture tells me I am His. That is enough.
Galatians 6:9, “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.”
“We are overworked and underpaid.” Every generation says it. My grandfather said it, my father said it, I’ve said it, and now my daughter says it too.
Few people know the name Hanson Gregory. 
When hope and depression share the same heart, Christ becomes essential. While I was in Kyrgyzstan, I had a conversation that stayed with me. A woman shared that her mother — a trained psychologist — is battling depression. What makes her situation more complicated is not just the illness itself but also the theology surrounding it. Some in their Christian community believe that a Christian should not experience depression. The reasoning seems straightforward:
Silence is the medium of loss, rage, disappointment, and resignation. It begins when the heart loses language, and even the most eloquent become wordless in suffering.
The parable of the Talents in Matthew 25:14-30 gives us six great truths. 
Is your God created out of hunger? There is a quiet danger in faith that doesn’t present itself as rebellion. It feels reasonable. Even reverent. It begins when we try to understand God using only the raw materials of our own experience.
While reading recently, I encountered a term that initially sounded academic, almost theoretical: violent innocence. At first, I thought it described others—two people or organizations engaged in passive conflict, each claiming innocence while quietly undermining one another. It seemed like a more refined version of passive-aggressive behavior. But as I reflected on it further, it became more unsettling. Not because it described others so accurately, but because it revealed something inside me.
Cain’s Offering: Effort and Achievement
He saved you so you could do all these things. Mathew said it to Mary in an episode of The Chosen. He reminded her that, regardless of her iniquities, she mattered to God and others. It reminded me of a story from my own life. The idea that my voice could echo through eternity haunts me. I’m captivated by the thought that I might say something so meaningful that at least one person would pass it on. I don’t believe I possess that much wisdom; luckily for me, Christ does.