I was feeling useless.

Though I woke up every morning with ambition, at the end of the day I was drained from my pursuit of money, success, acceptance, recognition, status and the “finer things in life.” I was going nowhere…fast.

Empty. Unfulfilled. Selfish. Yearning for more.

Can you relate?

Have you ever felt that what you woke up to do each morning was for nobody but yourself? Have you ever said to yourself, “There has to be more to life than this.” Have your pursuits, your desires, your plans and your ambitions ever led you to a dead end?

Has your existence ever given you so little fulfillment that you questioned why you were living in the first place?

This is exactly how I felt in 2007.

Then, I discovered my burden.

I identified a problem in the world that I wanted to play a part in fixing. I saw a segment of the population who was hurting and decided that I needed to do something about it. My heart became broken for something that, I believe, broke God’s heart.

I was concerned.

So what happened next?

Ideas started to flow. Opportunities to serve others started to make themselves available. I connected with people who felt the same way. I was told, “Thank You.”

Life began to have meaning.
No longer was I only pursuing my needs.
I was living my life for others, as opposed to living only for myself.

My life’s purpose began to reveal itself.

Over the course of the last three years, I have done work in response to my burden. I have pursued opportunities that serve the people for whom my burden is for. My work is no longer prosperity-driven, but instead it is purpose-driven!

And through all this, the lesson I have learned and would like to share with you is this:

YOUR BURDEN IS THE GATEWAY TO YOUR DREAM.

When you, once and for all, identify the deepest, most sincere burden that lies within you, then and only then will your life’s purpose begin to be made evident.

So what can you do to discover your burden?

I encourage you to reflect upon the following questions for they will provide clues to the burden that is yours to alleviate in the world.

What community or world issues:

Bother you?
Undermine your values?
Require your response?
Deploy your creativity?
Enlarge your compassion?
Never go away?

Imagine for a moment, what your life would be like if you began to live your life in response to your burden? How fulfilled would you be? What would your work look like? How much of a blessing would you be to those around you?

My life had no meaning prior to the discovery of my burden. But now that my burden has been identified, and now that I am doing my best to act upon my burden each day, my purpose has never been so clear!

Your burden is the gateway to your dream. Discover it.