“The two most important days in your life are the day you were born and the day you find out why.” –Mark Twain

In Andy Andrews’ book “The Noticer,” the angel-like character, Jones, discusses age with a very weary lady.

The lady explained that her life was over, she had outlived her usefulness, and it was time for her to go. She says, “I am an old woman wishing merely to live out my days without being in the way of those who still have much to do.”

Not willing to accept her negativity, Jones says, “Woo wee! And aren’t we glad everybody doesn’t feel that way! The world would surely have missed out on some grand achievements.”

With that, he begins a list of people who accomplished important things in their senior years:

Benjamin Franklin invented bifocals when he was 78. Winston Churchill wrote a book that won the Nobel Prize for Literature at the age of 78. After spending years in prison, Nelson Mandela was inaugurated president of South Africa at 75.

Grandma Moses did not sell her first painting until she was 90. Michelangelo didn’t begin his work on St. Peter’s Basilica—one of the world’s greatest treasures—until he was 72.

As Jones continues his conversation with the weary lady, he says, “If you are breathing, you are still alive, and if you are still here, then you have not completed what you were put on earth to do. If you have not completed what you were put on earth to do, that means your very purpose has not been fulfilled.

If your purpose has not been fulfilled, then the most important part of your life has not yet been lived. … there are more children to teach and help and more friends to touch and influence.”

Jones encourages, “Just seek to make a tiny difference in someone’s life.” He reminds us that our time on earth is a gift to be used wisely. We must not squander our words or our thoughts. The simplest actions we take matter beyond measure. They matter forever.

Motivational speaker John Maxwell says a career and a calling are not the same, because you can retire from a career but you should never retire from your calling. He says a career is something done for yourself, while a higher calling is something you do for others.

There is a purpose for your life that is greater than yourself. A calling is God-given; it is a process of giving value to others.

Author Julia Cameron, in her book “It’s Never Too Late to Begin Again,” writes, “We all have one or more callings, but sometimes we do not recognize them. Many people assume that they don’t have one at all. This is because the still, small voice may speak too softly for them to hear when they are focused on worldly goals.”

In such a needy world, we must recognize our higher callings and do something for others.

“We have become His poetry, a recreated people that will fulfill the destiny He has given each of us, for we are joined to Jesus, the Anointed One. Even before we were born, God planned in advance the good works we would do to fulfill it.” –Ephesians 2:10, Passion Bible