The prepositional phrase "for all intents and purposes" dates as far back as 1500s English law, meaning "for every functional purpose; in every practical sense; in every important respect; practically speaking" (Wikipedia. Best site ever). Basically, essentially, virtually, practically, pretty much. Taking all possible intents, purposes, goals, and designs into consideration, but regardless of what they are, then it must be concluded that _______.
Somewhere along the line, the phrase got misconstrued as "for all intensive purposes," which sounds cool but has no functional meaning. It's like saying, "As a result of all deep, rigorous, and thorough resolutions, we see that _____." Goals alone aren't enough to determine outcome.
But just because a good purpose is incomplete in and of itself, that doesn't mean it isn't essential. We can't get anywhere in life without intending to. We won't accidentally get into college or happen upon a happy marriage. Some things in life come with little effort (so they seem), but nothing is ever purely coincidental. I'm a firm believer in God, and I see His hand all around me. I believe Him when He says that we will always be blessed when we do what's right—not necessarily right here and now (it would be easy to follow God if instant gratification were involved), but when He knows the time is right.
When I got home from Chile, I got an amazing internship on a film set and later a resulting job publishing company that will be so instrumental in my hopes for a career as an author and screenwriter. The job was offered to me by a former Bishop that I felt like I needed to visit. He asked me about my school and work goals and said, "We're starting a movie tomorrow. Wanna come intern?" It was a miracle and seemingly out of the blue, but was it really? I attribute that blessing to the way I served my mission and how I was upholding the principles I learned there when I got back. I felt a prompting from the Spirit that I almost ignored, but I knew what I was feeling and trusted God. I'm glad I did. That doesn't make me inspiring or noteworthy, I don't think, but it's a personal experience that reminds me that no matter how sudden a blessing may appear, it's never unearned or coincidental. My missionary service was intentional. I constantly strove to work hard, be obedient, and serve others, and God is still blessing me for that.
In the scriptures, the Lord commands us to be "anxiously engaged in a good cause, and do many things of [our] own free will, and bring to pass much righteousness" (Doctrine and Covenants 58:27). I guess if we really tried, we could get through life without a purpose. But I can't even imagine what would happen. We certainly wouldn't have the smile of God's approval, and that's what I care most about anyway. True happiness is gained through sacrifice and hard work. God promises us blessings in return for righteousness, some bigger than others. The greater the blessing, the more intense our purpose needs to be. My most intense purpose is to make my Heavenly Father happy. I have an intense purpose to get married and raise a righteous, united family. I have an intense purpose to study, graduate, and work so I can provide for my family. One of my biggest intensive purposes is to return to the presence of God and stay there forever in His glory.
My last post was about caring vs. not caring. If we don't care, then it doesn't matter what we do. When Alice asks the Cheshire Cat which path to take, he teaches that it depends on where she wants to end up. Just as we need to care about what happens to us, we have to be active in making good things happen for us. We can't control everything in life, but we can and should direct our course far more than we sometimes think. We can see, find, and create good for ourselves. It just requires effort and conviction, holding nothing back in pursuit of our goals.
God designed this life in such a way that no one can gain anything of spiritual significance without working for it. He wants to us to be "things to act" rather than "things to be acted upon" (2 Nephi 2:14). So let's all work a little harder at remembering why we're here and where we want to go. And when we've done all we can do, exhausting our intensive purposes, we'll reach the potential God has in store for us.
For your enjoyment, a short video on living with purpose:
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