The On-Purpose™ Proverb

Bring your best to light so others can shine.

When you excel you inspire others to dream of what is possible for generations to come.

Think of Tour De France seven-time winner Lance Armstrong who sparked an entire movement in competitive cycling in the US. Through his dedication, training, and triumph he set new standards in cycling for his teammates and competitors, alike.

Chris Evert, one of the greatest women’s tennis champions, once said that beating her competitors was becoming so normal and expected that winning was actually feeling routine. She was delighted that Martina Navratilova came along to challenge her. It helped her to take her game, dedication, and conditioning to the next level.

Strive for excellence but do it with humility. Here I reflect on the movie Chariots of Fire when Eric Liddell says, "I believe God made me for a purpose, but he also made me fast, and when I run, I feel God's pleasure."

Run fast into your purpose. This is what you were designed to be and do best. It pleases God and you’ll also find a smile on your face. As you reflect today and into the future, you’ll see others lighting the wicks of their purpose from the light of your candle.

Bring your best to light so others can shine.

The On-Purpose™ Proverb

Adversity is one of life’s great teachers dressed in disguise.

“What good can come out of this?” you ask while pondering your present problem. You’re thinking, “It’s horrific, terrible, the worst thing that has ever happened.” A heavy dullness leads to the clincher questions, “Why me? What did I do to deserve this? What hope is left?”

Consider John Walsh, the father of Adam Walsh and host of the TV show America’s Most Wanted. On July 27, 1981, John’s six-year-old pride and joy, Adam, was abducted from a mall. Two weeks later the boy’s head was found in a ditch. Adam’s killer has never been brought to justice. Adam would be thirty years old this year.

Yet from this tragic circumstance, John and Reve Walsh founded in 1984 the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

Hope! How are hurts transformed into hope? How is crisis turned into contribution? The fifth book of Romans (NIV) encourages us to “…rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.”

Adversity is one of life’s great teachers dressed in disguise and leading us to character, hope, and love. Yes, greatness can emerge from adversity.

The On-Purpose™ Proverb

Neglect a garden for a week and the weeds will over take the flowers. Neglect your dreams for a day and busyness will overrun your life.

Weeds are easier to grow than flowers. There’s a life lesson here: bounty and beauty take effort. To tend to what matters most we have to be willing to get on our hands and knees to get a little dirty with the pleasures and pain of hard work.

Are you feeling discouraged or overwhelmed? Chances are that unwanted weeds of busyness have entangled your soul and choked your dreams. Feelings of being overwhelmed are taking you off-purpose.

Here’s what to do to be back on-purpose. Everyday do a little weeding of your unwanted habits that occupy your time but are not advancing your life. Give care and feeding to the flowers of your life. Weeds will always be with us, but by tending the flowers and eliminating the weeds, your desired dreams can blossom in time.

So yank those weeds out by the roots. Focus on the flowers and cultivate your life to bloom abundantly.

By Kevin W. McCarthy

June 28, 2005 - The On-Purpose™ Proverb

Soul searching begins with sole searching.

“Who am I?” is one of the most profound questions you will ever seek to answer. Much of our identity is erroneously formed by others’ opinions of us and shaped by experiences that reinforce and refine our sense of self.

Yet, the true answer to the question is found from above and within. It takes quiet time and solitude. Oddly, being contemplative is harder than it looks – I’m so programmed to equate action with productivity that rest feels like I’m playing hooky from life.

Being alone is not the same as solitude. When I’m alone I can fill the emptiness with television, email, web surfing, reading, or any number of busyness related activities ill-intended to avoid confronting the real me.

Soul searching is a time of resting in God’s presence, listening for His voice, and seeking His will. Jesus taught that the Kingdom of God is within and we are to seek it first. Yet, most of us pursue fame and fortune “out there in the real world.” Eventually, even precious Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz discovered, “There’s no place like home.”

And when my sole searching leads me to my soul, indeed I have found the kingdom of God. I’m home where God intends me instead of where the world might like me to be.

The On-Purpose Proverb, June 9, 2005

The older I get the less I find wrong with myself... my children do it for me.

The past ten days have been a time of deepening. A visit from an aging eighty-year old aunt at my parents’ home; a visit to a fifty-three year old cousin battling colon cancer; and a Sunday hospital visit to a thirty-five-year old friend who died on Wednesday due to brain cancer have all contributed to many thoughts on the meaning of life… and death.

Most would hold me out as an expert in the area of meaning. Certainly, I have written and spoken a great deal about the purpose of life. In fact, my life’s battle is to “eradicate meaninglessness.” It is one thing, however, to simply write or talk about meaning. It is another to experience first hand the final turn in the circle of life. The fact that death is the ultimate and inescapable healing from these worldly bonds gives me great comfort, perspective, and solace. I pray the same for you.

I must admit, watching one’s family and friends diminish in physical and mental capacity is no treat, yet it does provide its humorous moments. As my father helps my mother from her wheelchair into their car, we’ll jokingly remark, “They’re dancing again.” Far from it; but the larceny of a stroke to one’s mobility is somehow more easily resolved with laughter.

It is easy to chuckle at the failings of my parents, even as my children taunt and laugh harder at mine. I’ve come to see the humor is really a means of coming to terms with one’s own discomfort with aging and death – theirs and mine. My maturity hit home last week when the nighttime flashes in my left eye were found by the retinal specialist to be the result of the shrinking viscous sack in my eye. Read: aging.

There is more to life than time being spent between birth and death. Life is meaningful with the simple act of a choice to make it so. Take faith that we are part of a grand design. Faith sustains, defines, and provides hope that, yes, our time on this planet may seem insignificant relative to world history, but it is significant in the scope of our lives and those around us. Even so, when I start taking myself and my work far too seriously, I just laugh at myself and my frequent stupidity – not too hard, however, or else I might throw out my back. No sense giving the kids any more reasons to torment their dad.

The On-Purpose Proverb

Approach your work with the heart of a steward,
You’ll do right by all, and reap unexpected reward.


A steward is a person employed and entrusted with the care and affairs of another person. They carry out their responsibilities by placing the interests of their charge first and foremost. The mindset and heart of a steward is an important quality too rarely taught nor even thought about by most of us. More stewards are needed in the world.

How do we become a steward? It begins with coming to terms with one’s worldview or, simply put, “Who’s in charge?” Your response will fall into one of two possible answers: “I am,” or “I am not.”

If you answered this worldview question with “I am in charge,” then the stewardship point of view will truly disrupt your thinking. Control freaks beware, yet think of the relaxation and comfort in no longer carrying the weight of the world.

If you answered, “I am not,” then you are on the path to stewardship. Logic dictates the next questions, “If not me, then who or what is in charge? Who am I serving, and why?”

I would love to know your thoughts to the answer to these questions:

If not me, then who or what is in charge?

Who am I serving, and why?

Welcome To The On-Purpose Proverbs Blog. Here you are invited to post your thoughts and comments on my On-Purpose™ Proverbs.