One of the questions that seems to plague most of educated mankind today, is ‘what is the purpose of my life?’. I’ve often asked people what the world would be like, if every sweeper, every grocer, clerk, driver, or even every seed that ends up on your plate, every tree, asked this same question?

Life is so powerful, you have no choice but to live out your purpose. Sometimes a part of this purpose, can be feeling lost and purposeless. However, I came across a beautiful post the other day, where a man, Chris Moody, shared a personal story in this context.

They used to go camping as a family, during the holidays. They’d pull into a campsite in a trailer and usually stay a week.

Says he, “After parking and leveling the trailer, we would get out landscaping tools, make rain trenches, trim branches, pull weeds, and pick up every cigarette butt, candy wrapper, bread tie, etc., and get the campfires going. We enjoyed the campsite for all its glory, cleaning every day after supper. All 5 of us kids had a chore.

I hated chores…took away from bike riding, fishing, long walks…ugh! Hated chores!

On check-out day, after hooking em up but just before heading out, we cleaned up every soda can tab, candy wrapper, bread tie, etc., trimmed branches, pulled weeds, raked up the campsite.

One time, during my smartass punk teen days, I made the remark that we work too hard to clean up, why can’t we just leave it like this.

I remember my dad looking at me not believing I would ask such a question, he said to me that this place was here for everyone to enjoy. ‘Always leave it better than you found it.’  

So, my fellow practitioners, let me ask you this. In your final hours, what will be the epitaph of your existence?“

Wow. What a beautiful lesson. Isn’t this really the purpose of every life? Every being apart from humans, leaves the world better than it found it. A seed becomes a tree, nourishing thousands of lives. Or it becomes food, nourishing at least one. Or it rots and becomes manure, helping another seed grow. Every bird, every animal, every insect leaves a little footprint, does it’s part to keep the world moving.

What can you do to add your bit? Well, what can be better than bringing more presence into the world? Bringing a little more love, a little more kindness and a little more joy? Why wait until the end of your life, do you leave everything and everyone that touches you, a little better than you found it?