Over the weekend, I came across this amazing quote from Rumi (my bold emphasis added):
“There is one thing in this world that you must never forget to do. If you forget everything else and not this, there’s nothing to worry about; but if you remember everything else and forget this, then you will have done nothing in your life.
It’s as if a king has sent you to some country to do a task, and you perform a hundred other services, but not the one he sent you to do. So human beings come to this world to do particular work. That work is the purpose, and each is specific to the person. If you don’t do it, it’s as though a priceless Indian sword were used to slice rotten meat. It’s a golden bowl being used to cook turnips, when one filing from the bowl could buy a hundred suitable pots. It’s a knife of the finest tempering nailed into a wall to hang things on.”
So often I meet young nonprofit workers who have incredible talents that for whatever reason they aren’t using in service to their nonprofit. I mean, these young leaders are smart as hell with extensive volunteer experience, special training, and degrees in management, psychology, communications – you name it, they know it. But many times, the jobs they perform at their nonprofit have nothing to do with the training or skills they possess. They spend more time doing administrative tasks than applying their critical thinking skills to help their organization solve problems. It’s almost as if they are wasting their golden bowl.
Rumi speaks of the importance of doing the work that you are called to do. When you don’t seek to use your talents in the service of your purpose, it’s a waste of your time here on earth. Why go to the trouble to figure out what you want to do with your life, then go work for an organization that plops you behind a reception desk all day long? Why go to college with a burning for passion women’s studies and end up in a nonprofit whose mission you’re only lukewarm about? Ask yourself the question: are you wasting your golden bowl?
In these difficult economic times, nonprofits need the skills and talents of the next generation now more than ever. Things in the game done changed. It’s no longer enough for you to wait for someone to tell you what to do next. It’s not acceptable for you to sit there in meetings knowing you have a brilliant idea, but keeping your mouth shut out of fear. You’re not keeping it real by ignoring the nagging feeling in your gut that says the organization might be going in the wrong direction. If we really want to help change the world, we have to stay true to our purpose and use our talents in the service of the work we were called to do.
We must not waste our golden bowl.
