Finding Your Purpose - Mary Lyon

1797–1849

A pioneer is anyone who leads the way to a place where no one has gone before. Mary Lyon was a pioneer in education—women’s education, to be exact. At a time when female education was often limited to reading, basic arithmetic, drawing, needlework, and other subjects that were considered suitable for ladies, Mary worked tirelessly to create a women’s college that was every bit as academically challenging as a school for men.

After twenty years of teaching, Mary decided to leave her job and devote herself to raising funds to build an institution of higher education for women. Three years later, she opened the doors of Mount Holyoke Female Seminary with rigorous academic entrance requirements and a curriculum equivalent to those at men’s colleges. Mount Holyoke was the first of what became the Seven Sisters—seven all-female colleges that became counterparts to the then male-dominated Ivy League schools.

The school also had a spiritual core. Teachers would meet to pray for students, and revival services were common. Time was set aside in the school day for personal prayer and meditation. In those early years, many of the graduates were sent out as missionaries to foreign lands or the American West.

Mary has been quoted as saying, “There is nothing in the universe that I fear, but that I shall not know all my duty, or shall fail to do it.” Mary felt it was her duty, her purpose in life, to start a school like Mount Holyoke. She created the type of college that she would have liked to attend as a young woman, if only it had existed.

It can take some time to find your purpose in life; that’s not unusual. But when you do find a purpose, are you committed to pursuing it, as Mary did?

In your search for purpose, it’s good to consult people you can trust, people who know you and can give you honest feedback about your thoughts and ideas. But there’s someone else you need to include too: God.

If you’re searching for your purpose or you’re already in the midst of fulfilling it, don’t forget to spend time consulting God each step of the way.

Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take.

Proverbs 3:6