By Brad Olsen

I often forget the power of purpose.  A one-word question gets straight to the meat of the matter. Such a simple word, “why?” appears so shallow, immature and innocent. Three-year-olds recite it regularly until parents beg them to stop.

But the children have it right. They want to learn the purpose: of food, of plants, of families, of people, of God . . . Their curiosity wears us down. But I sometimes wish I had the undying curiosity to learn about everything and its purpose. Or if I’ve already decided on a particular purpose, that a revolutionary idea would reform it.

My wife, Beth, and I recently celebrated our 25^th wedding anniversary on a small island in the Caribbean Sea. We were joined by our good friends, Pepper and Gwen. And we decided to make it our purpose to love the Lord, his creation and each other.

We noticed that many of the resort’s guests were twosomes. And many of them wanted to join our fun little group. A couple from Paris ate breakfast with us one morning, and we asked them a simple question: “What is the purpose of this day?” Peter, the husband, grabbed onto the question and continued to pose it throughout the week.  When I returned home, I received emails from him, repeating the question: “What is the purpose of this day?”

The question that appeared so elementary to us profoundly affected Peter and his worldview.

I think God wants us to ask the questions, to reconsider our concrete opinions and beliefs, and to never stop. We can learn a lot from a 3-year-old.