Purpose

I have been reading Kristin Armstrong's "26.2 Reasons Women Run".  It is wonderful!  She is one of my favorite bloggers and this book is a compilation of her blog posts. One of the chapters in her book is dedicated to purpose.  I really like the way she worded her idea of purpose (p168).
  

Just like an interrupting child, your purpose will poke at you relentlessly until you turn and give it some attention.  I've written before on this subject, about women who say they were "born to be a mother" or "meant to be a wife".  To that I reply, "Of course you were; you have a uterus and a ring finger. But those are your roles, not your purpose." And that distinction is important because a purpose is a higher, broader calling than a role.  But together, the culmination of our roles and our purpose becomes our life and, eventually, our legacy.

This paragraph hasn't left my mind since I read it over a week ago.  In the last few months I have felt myself defining myself in terms of mother only.  I have had a difficult time transitioning from mother to wife or mother to friend or mother to coach or mother to Elizabeth or mother to runner or mother to crafter or mother to homemaker.  I know that a large part of this is because I am a new mother for the third time.  A large part of my time and energy goes toward sustaining the life of four other people.  But as I have let this happen I begun to loose touch with the other parts of me.  A purpose would help me feel more in touch, more focused, more energized.

I took this idea with me to the temple on Friday.  I wanted a clearly defined purpose.  Ironically I really didn't have much searching to do.  I have been lead back to it time and time again, and there it is staring me in the face.  I really feel like my purpose isn't too far from where I am at now, but that it will grow and transform as I do.  The impression I felt was the same when I searched for a major it is to "strengthen home and family".