At some point in our lives, most people contemplate the meaning of life. More specifically, the meaning of our particular life. “Why am I here?” we ask.

Almost 20 years ago, I had an experience that gave me an idea on that topic. My 24 year old (at the time) brother was suddenly hospitalized with kidney failure. There had been no warning, but he urgently needed a kidney.

At that time, I was the healthiest person I knew. I rarely got sick. I’d never had a broken bone. I was strong, fit, and energetic. My teeth were straight, and my vision was 20/20.

So when my brother called, I didn’t hesitate to say yes to donating my kidney. And I remember having the distinct feeling that maybe this was my purpose in life. Maybe I had been born for this very thing. Maybe I had been healthy, while others in my family struggled with various ailments, so that I would be ready, willing, and able to donate a kidney to my brother.

This may not, in fact, be why God created me. But it could be. Maybe it was just one among several purposes. Who knows? One day I will find out.

“If you keep silent at this time, relief and deliverance will come to the Jewish people from another place, but you and your father’s family will be destroyed. Who knows, perhaps you have come to your royal position for such a time as this.” (Esther‬ ‭4‬:‭14,‬ ‭CSB‬‬)

Esther was selected out of hundreds of girls to live in the palace. Perhaps God created her to be beautiful in exactly the right way, in the right time and place, to be chosen by the king. And her access to the king put her in a unique position to save her people, to do something heroic, brave, and good.

God would have saved the Israelites some other way if Esther hadn’t stepped up. His will is unstoppable, after all. But Esther was given the gift of becoming a hero.

If God wanted my brother to live and thrive, he would have received a kidney from someone else if I hadn’t been willing. God’s will is unstoppable. But I was given the great gift of being a hero.

Always be on the look out for ways to do good, to be brave and heroic. Because, who knows, perhaps you were born for such a time as this.

Dear God, thank you for allowing me to participate in your good work in the world. Show me all the ways you are working around me and open my eyes to the opportunities you provide for me to join you in that good work. Teach me how to be good, brave, and heroic every chance I get.