Do you feel fulfilled?
That’s the question I’ve been asking to different people over the past two months. Friends, family, even people I only met minutes earlier, I’ve asked this question: do you feel fulfilled? Well, fulfilled in what sense, they might ask: work, family, relationships, hobbies, how they see themselves, etc. In what areas? In any of those areas, I might say. Is there an area of your life or even your life in general that doesn’t feel fulfilled?
Second question, if your answer is no and there’s something that you can do about finding that fulfillment, why aren’t you making that change? If it’s within your power to change things in your life to find more fulfillment, then what’s stopping you?
Fulfilled…Webster’s defines it as “to carry out, or bring to realization,” “to satisfy,” and even “to develop the full potential of.” God has every hope and dream that you will seize your God-given opportunity to make the most of your life. It’s not a self-realization gimmick; it’s being faithful with what you’ve been given and searching for something more.
People will stay in dead-end jobs, knowing that they’re dead-end jobs, because it’s comfortable. The risk of leaving may not even be that daunting but they’ve been at this job for a long enough time that leaving would just seem…well, foolish. Never mind that they feel hollow and like their dreams are more fantasy than possibility; they will stay with what they know. The energy and effort to reach for what’s best is the easy victim of their willingness to accept the way things are as being “good enough.”
But fulfillment, first defined by Webster’s as “bringing to realization,” is important. It’s the part where we realize that things could be so much more rewarding to our hearts and lives and souls and faith. Maybe it’s the first time we see the gap between where we are and where we could be if things could be changed or moved. Maybe it’s realizing that you’ve settled for what’s okay when what’s best could be knocking on your door.
If your life isn’t as fulfilling as it could be in every area, ask yourself why that might be. If you have a God-given opportunity to make a change, then what’s stopping you?