As a first-class professional in your particular industry, what is the goal in life? What is your goal in life?

For many people in the world, real meaning in life is the next vacation, career success, or stepping up the income ladder. It is a life based on pleasurable experiences.

Many a human being has toiled their whole life to gain a pleasurable lifestyle only to find a life that is empty and meaningless. You only have to watch television for one evening to discover that advertisers want us to believe this is the goal of life. The work-to-play theme is consistent with most advertising messages.

We're more than halfway through 2008 and with so much negativity in the news these days (especially as it relates to the economy) we've had many discussions about our place in this life, world, and industry. Specifically, we've been seeking wisdom wherever we might find it since one of our primary goals is to always continue to grow professionally so that we can help others grow professionally. Besides, the better we are at our jobs, the better we are at helping you achieve your professional dreams.

Solomon of the Bible was a man who had nothing withheld from his appetite. He was a great builder, a great businessman, and a great lover of women. Every imaginable pleasure was his. Nevertheless, he was to discover that these things alone could not satisfy the human soul.

So, how are we to ever find real happiness in life as well as a sense of peace and joy when it comes to our careers? In other words, when does our work become less of a "job" and more like a "career" or, to put it another way, when do we stop going to work simply to receive a paycheck?

The answers are as diverse as the industries, companies, people, and assignments we work with and they will differ for everyone. However, I propose that we start by recognizing the futile trap of the work-to-play lifestyle.

It is great to experience times of refreshing and visit beautiful places and do exciting things as long as we don't fall into the trap of thinking that these experiences equal a meaningful life. Our Creator's beautiful creation can so easily become a prison of emptiness if our priorities aren't in line and He is not in the center of it. We might also refer to this delicate ordering our our priorities as the "work-life-balance."

So, my hope today is that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which He has called you, the riches of His glorious inheritance, and His incomparably great power that is always available to you.

This mid-summer weekend I encourage you that whatever your lot in life please take some time to consider this topic and these thoughts and you will discover real meaning and purpose in life.