From Yugen to Ikigai: Finding Purpose in Every Season of Life
This blog was written by Bill Jones.
As a ”Back to Nature Hippie” In the late seventies ,I was searching for truth in all the wrong places. No matter how high or drunk I became, when I would lay down to sleep, I would hear a voice inside saying, “There has got to be more to life than this.” So, I kept searching for something else to fill the void I continually felt inside.
In nineteen eighty that lifestyle brought me to the end of myself. Amid slowly losing everyone and everything I loved, I finally gave God a try. Receiving the Holy Ghost, immediately filled that void with His presence and peace. I soon realized that there was still more to life than “finding God”. The greater goal is in following and serving Him all our lives.
Over time, I entered the ministry, became a church planter and Pastored that church for thirty-five years. After losing my late wife of forty-five years to brain cancer, it was time to pass the church to another and turn the page.
Now I’m a seventy-five-year-old retired Pastor and remarried saint, living in a different city and attending a bigger church. I’m facing the challenge of trying to figure out who I really am now, and what I should be doing for God in this new season of my life. It’s a struggle.
I could try coasting on accomplishments, but I know there is still more to life than that. Nowadays I create discipleship material and teach discipleship. I give soul winning seminars and teach home bible studies. I speak to, and encourage our leaders, and help my Pastor in any way I can. The deep yearning to be useful in God’s kingdom still remains and calls me to try new ways to serve Him.
Always alert for any inspiration or direction in this new adventure, I recently became aware of two interesting Japanese words, yugen and Ikigai. The first word yugen, means having a profound sense that your existence is just a speck in the vast expanse of the universe.
I realize for us older kingdom laborers; it is too easy to slip into the yugen mindset as we grow older and opportunities to do things for God’s kingdom seem to diminish. We can easily begin to feel insignificant and useless.
The second word Ikigai is written with two characters that stand for living and value, which means making your life worthwhile. We don’t have that exact word in English, but I believe we Sages have that concept and desire deep in our hearts.
With all that being said, I leave this suggestion. Perhaps it’s time to choose the Ikigai mindset and ask God to help us make our life even more worthwhile and fulfilling by opening new opportunities for us to become active and serve Him, no matter how small the opportunity may seem. Because we are eternal beings, everything we do counts for something, and no one is insignificant to God.
Rev. Bill L. Jones
Feel free to contact Bro Jones for information on ordering his home bible study called “ Loving My New Life” or booking a soul winning seminar for your church at his Facebook page called “ Fisherman’s Workshop Revisited”."