When I meditate, the question that often pops up right away in my head is this: what is my purpose in life? How can the remainder of my life be rich and full? How can I do some good for other human beings?

Welcome to what Joan Chittister calls the “eternal search for the fullness of life.” It sounds lofty and uplifting, but what does it mean for me and the hardy souls who hang in there and want the same thing?

We are not in fashion, that’s for sure. If you watch their news, we don’t even exist. I admit it’s a lonely search.

A lot of people like the sound of it, but not too many people want to do it.

There is no money in it, no gold at the end of the rainbow, no big IRA to cushion my old age. But there is great joy, passion, and meaning out there for me, and I am finding it.

I do not have a knack for getting on the popular movement of the moment. It seems to be hunting down the devious “woke,” embracing cruelty and lies and celebrating dishonor and persecution.

I can’t do much about that other than to stay on my course, my search for the fullness of life. I’m slowly and painfully figuring it out.

It means I must learn to love and permit myself to be loved. I’m doing well there.

It means I must try to leave the world in a better place than I found it, no matter how small.

It means I must work hard to be authentic, understand my truth, and share that honesty with others.

It means I must accept life for what it is and not for what I think it should be or is.

It means I must understand that I will die but that the richness of life is ahead of me, not behind me.

It means I must work every day to bring color and light to a darkening world.

It means I must wake up every morning (or deep in the night) and ask myself what I can do to make myself a better human being.

And what it is that I can do every day to lighten the life of someone poorer, needier, or more vulnerable than me.

This is a tough road and a difficult and painful one for me. It means changing, learning, listening, and growing. I don’t get any days off for that; there is no time.

Welcome to my eternal search for the fullness of life.