Nearly a year ago I began the Live on Purpose blog on April 27, 2008, with a post about Christopher Reeve, who truly lived a hero’s life. In the post, I was trying to define what I think living on purpose is all about:
- After starring as the hero in the movie Superman, he was injured in a terrible accident and became paralyzed from the neck down. He struggled daily to regain control over his limbs. It took six years for him to have control over his index finger. Of course he suffered from bouts of depression during that time. He explained that he has good days and down days like everyone else. During his journey, however, he and his wife used their fame and their funds to start the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation for Spinal Cord Injury, which has helped thousands of patients with spinal cord injuries. So even though he suffered a debilitating accident, he turned it around and found his purpose, and lived purposefully as best as he could.
This weekend I had a chance to meet a survivor who has embraced the very thing that took away the life he knew, and then turned it into purpose.
Major league baseball pitcher Dave Dravecky attends the same church as I do, and he spoke to the congregation during service this past week. Dave Dravecky had just begun his major league career for the San Francisco Giants when he was diagnosed with soft tissue cancer in his pitching arm. He went through radiation treatments, hoping he could make a comeback, and in ten months, he did. He got on the mound again to pitch after his cancer went into remission. But later, his arm snapped as he threw a pitch, and he was carried off the field in a stretcher, never to return. His pitching arm and shoulder were amputated on June 18, 1991, and Dave was left with no sense of worth at all.
What do you do when all you ever wanted was to play major league baseball and cancer steals your future away from you? What do you do when everything you thought you were gets ripped out from under you? How do you define your true worth?
Dave and his wife fell into debilitating depression.
Dave battled his demons, his shadow, and could not understand how to show the deep emotions that surfaced in a healthy way.
Dave told the congregation this week that he was raised catholic, but that didn’t mean he knew what Christianity was about. He said, “I was challenged to think beyond this thing called religion.” He took up his faith, and learned how to draw strength from the Lord, to pray, and to ask for prayer, and then he “ascended out of the valley of suffering.”
He was able to turn it all around through his faith. Now he travels across the country re-telling his tragic story and offering hope to those who are suffering. His closing statement was, “Cancer has been a blessing in my life.” It was the cancer that helped him grow spiritually.
Dave started the Outreach of Hope, a non-profit resource organization that strives to offer knowledge about cancer and depression as well as prayer for those who are suffering.
- One of the missions of the Outreach of Hope is to provide resources that address the spiritual and emotional issues of suffering. We desire to make these resources available to those on the front lines of encouragement who can then pass them on to the individuals and families they serve in their medical office, support group, hospital or community.
Last week I intuited a quote, “Notice what gives you your sense of self-worth. Be careful that it comes from your soul, not the outside world.”
Dave Dravecky said, “My worth is not in what I do, it’s in who I am.”
It’s an important distinction. Please, look at your reactions carefully. Ladies, is your self-worth wrapped up in how well you can cook dinner? Is it wrapped up in your willingness to help/please others at your own expense? Men, is your self-worth wrapped up in how much money you can bring home? Is it derived from your ability to provide for your family? You’ll know where your self-worth is because if that one thing is taken away from you, you’ll feel deflated and worthless. Don’t wait! Amend the situation now. Make sure you spend time in meditation upon your spirit, or upon your God. You are always worthwhile as a human being. It doesn’t matter if you’re recovering from surgery or fully able-bodied.
I offer this inspirational story as an example of the flowering of purpose in a life racked with pain. It CAN happen. Please, don’t stop looking.