Life does have a purpose, and my efforts to improve myself count for something
Growing up in a large family, with one older sister and four older brothers, I grew up loving sports, and you could say I adopted my familys’ competitive nature. I watched my brothers’ football games, basketball games and golf tournaments, and we often played baseball in the backyard. I started basketball at age 8, participated in tennis camp every summer for a few years, and then when I got into High School I started volleyball, basketball, and track.
I love the personal investment that athletics require for improvement; the diligence and exertion that makes you proud of what you have accomplished when you’re done, or reached your personal best. Excelling in sports depends upon your attitude and effort—and having a goal.
In each sport there is a goal; whether it’s making it to the end of the court and putting the ball in the basket, or crossing a finish line. If there were no basket or finish line the game would be pointless. The athletes would run around and around the track not knowing why, or when it will end.
Life isn’t so different; when there is no goal or purpose, sometimes we feel like we are running around and what we are doing doesn’t have much meaning. I am grateful to know that life does have a purpose, and my efforts to improve myself count for something. We have a loving Heavenly Father, who cares about our happiness and has a plan for us.
I have friends who think faith is pointless; they see it as false hope. However, faith has given me strength and purpose. I don’t know all the answers to every question in life, but I have faith that carries me until the answers come. In the meantime, I have a goal to work towards, to become the kind of person that my Heavenly Father wants me to be.
My name is Marie Heder and I am a Mormon.