Chapter 21
Four Stages of Purpose
The farmer had never told Josh his name, but for some reason Josh felt as though he had known him all his life. His gray hair, mustache, and clothes made him appear old, but as Josh looked closely at his face for the first time, he noticed that it shined with a youthful radiance, and his blue eyes lit up when he talked about purpose.
“You have already been through the first stage,” the farmer said. “It is a stage that lasts until a person decides to plant his or her seed. It is the stage of preparation. The preparation stage includes your birth, the family you were born into, your weaknesses and strengths, gifts, passions, the place you were born, and the experiences, challenges, and the lessons you have learned throughout your life that prepare you to be planted.
“It is this stage that makes you unique and provides you with the characteristics that determine what you will grow into and become. During this stage, you will likely experience adversity of some kind that prepares you for your calling. Just as you can’t know what light is without experiencing the darkness, how can you know the joy of living your purpose without the experience of struggling to find it?”
The farmer then reached down and grabbed some dirt and cupped it in the palm of his hand and showed it to Josh. “Adversity, for many, features a time of drought,” he added. “Drought might ...
