Who Are You & Why Are You Here?

There’s an old story about Akiva, the rabbi, who had been in the village to gather some supplies. Walking back to his cottage, he absentmindedly took the wrong path. Suddenly, a voice came through the darkness: “Who are you, and why are you here?”

Shocked to awareness, Akiva realized he had wandered into the Roman garrison, and the voice had come from the young sentry keeping guard. But being a rabbi, he answered the question with another question: “How much do they pay you to stand guard and ask that question of all who approach?”

The sentry, now seeing that this was not an intruder but a rabbi, answered meekly, “Five drachmas a week, sir.”

At that point the rabbi offered, “Young man, I will double your pay if you come with me, stand in front of my cottage, and ask me that question each morning as I begin my day: ‘Who are you, and why are you here?’”

What about you? What if I asked you that question? Who are you and why are you here? For so many of us it’s easy to find ourselves much like the rabbi wandering down a road unaware of where we’ve wound up. If we don’t live every day with purpose, with a mission then it’s easy to forget who we are and why we’re here. 

If we don’t have a clear understanding of who we are, we allow other people, situations, our accomplishments, our heartaches to tell us who we are. If we don’t have a concrete foundation of why we’re here, then how will we know where we’re really supposed to be? 

If you’re like me, you probably have a daily to-do list. You see for must of us it’s easier to do than be. We launch into auto pilot mode and begin scratching items off our list rather than purposely  pursuing our goal. We have to have a mission based on knowing who we are. We have to have accomplishments we are striving for that can be weighed. It is not enough to simply wake in the morning and hit the floor with no plan or purpose. If we allow ourselves to be reactive to our days and the events as they unfold, what will that accomplish? People who know who they are plan their day so that there is a defined and measured outcome. It’s about living with intention. It’s about meeting our hearts and knowing they matter. 

As a young person, I spent many years getting to the heart of who I truly am. I’d find myself moving in certain directions. In my work, certain tasks would come easy to me, doesn’t mean it was what I was meant to do. For those of you who know me, I am very relational, doesn’t mean I’m an extrovert. The reality is in the last few years, I’ve realized what my strengths are in business and I love everyday that I come to work as a result. I’ve finally found a place to establish roots and be able to flow in my strengths. I’ve also discovered that while I am relational, I am more of an introvert. I relish my “alone” time and find that I need it in order to be “relational” with others. In other words, I’m not very “relational” when I haven’t had the chance to center my heart again through running or reading or even spending time writing. The point is that time is mine and I get to enjoy it and fill back up again so that I can continue to pour myself into others.

My parents are 83 years old. They’ve lived long full lives. They remain active and engaged in their community but when I asked what they wish they would’ve done differently to this point in their lives, my father said, “I wish I would’ve had the courage to live the life meant for me, instead of the life others imposed on me.” That was enough for me, it’s a very sobering statement isn’t it? Why do we wait till the end of our lives to look back at what we wish we would’ve done? Why do we allow ourselves to be blanketed by the security of predictability? If I asked each of you, I’m sure there is something you wish you would’ve done, wish you would’ve become, wish you would’ve accomplished. Don’t let another day, another month, another year pass you by without spending sometime getting to know who you really are and why you’re here.