Lately, I've been on a Marvel binge, and one thing I can say about Marvel is that even though it may be "fiction," there's no question that the seeds of our own lives somehow find their way into the story. One phrase has been stuck in my head lately: "glorious purpose."

Loki always believed he was burdened with glorious purpose. For the longest time, he thought that purpose was to take the throne and rule over Asgard. Little did he know, it was so much bigger than that. Instead of becoming king of one world, he ended up becoming the guardian of every world, protecting them instead of ruling them.

I couldn't stop thinking about that because it made me wonder how many of us are walking around believing we already know what our purpose is. Or maybe even worse, believing we've somehow missed it. I know I've had moments where I questioned every decision I made, wondering if I had taken the wrong path or somehow ended up off track. But what if being off track is sometimes part of finding where we're actually supposed to be?

When I look back at my own life, I can see that every decision, every season of resistance, every act of defiance, and every moment where I felt completely misaligned still led me here. At the time, none of it made sense. I thought I was making mistakes. Now I wonder if I was just growing into a version of myself I couldn't see yet.

I'm not saying we have to take the hard road to find our purpose, and I'm definitely not saying every mistake was meant to happen. But I do think every experience has the ability to shape us into who we're becoming. Maybe purpose isn't something we find all at once. Maybe it's something we slowly grow into, usually while we're busy chasing something else.

I guess that's what brought me peace about Loki's story. He spent so much of his life believing his purpose was one thing, only to discover it was far greater than he ever imagined. Maybe the same is true for us. Maybe the things we regret, the seasons where we feel lost, and the moments we think we've ruined everything are simply leading us somewhere we can't see yet.

Maybe we're not as lost as we think we are.

Maybe we're just still discovering our own glorious purpose.