Examples that Teach Me

It is the week before school begins and I have had some time to enjoy spending time with my mom and to see a few good movies. Lately I have really enjoyed biographies.
I checked out a BBC movie about Florence Nightingale. Here was a woman during the Victorian Era that felt she had a calling from God to be a nurse. She, with the help of many others, changed the way we look at and handle modern medicine. Known as the "Lady with the Lamp" she held over 2,000 soldiers hands as they lay dying in times of war.
Her life did not turn out the way many people believed it would but it seems to me that she truly did the will of God and because of her heroic actions we have all been blessed.

I also went to see the movie Julie and Julia. This movie gives at least a portion of Julia Child's biography. Here was a woman who married later in life and then was unable to have children. Although I am sure she desired to be a mother the opportunity did not present itself and she struggled to find ways to be fulfilled.

Little did she know that her struggles would go on to not only change her life but that it would also change to world of cooking.

When it all comes down to it I realize that most of us will not change the world as Florence Nightingale and Julia Child did but each of us in our own way can learn from them that we have a purpose in this life. We may not fully understand our life missions but if we continue to pursue them they will make a difference. You never know what a difference it will make. You may never know. Don't allow this lack of knowledge to get you caught in a rut of the day to day. Live in the present.