A friend recently asked my six-year-old daughter a widely used question adults inquire of children: “What do you want to be when you grow up?”

The answer made both me and the asker smile in stunned appreciation…

“I am already what I am going to be when I grow up,” she replied confidently. “I am an illustrator. I draw pictures for books.”

A few hours later I asked my daughter a few more questions relating to her earlier statement. She further answered, “I will only get better with practice, but I will always be an illustrator.”

If all of us only had that level of confidence in knowing what we are to be when we grow up and what we are to be until we grow up. Maybe the real answer is revealed in a six-year-old’s simplicity. Maybe we complicate the answer because we rarely settle down enough to grasp, embrace, and practice the basics of what makes us unique, what values we hold dear, and what stirs our passions. Indeed, we have the ability to be who we are meant to be in the moment God has given us. And with persistence, discernment, and wisdom we have the ability to practice and get better at fulfilling His purpose through our lives.

Maybe who we are meant to be is truly a moment-by-moment experience…never meant to begin at a certain age or milestone (such as graduating college, receiving your first paycheck from the job of your dreams, getting married, having kids, etc.). Maybe we reinvent ourselves with each dawn and glean the wisdom of the day to plant our dreams for the night. And with each new sunrise we birth and bloom one step stronger to being who God intends for us to be in the moments He has blessed us with.

“What do you want to be when you grow up, Mommy?” my daughter returns the question.

Smiling, I bend down to her freckled nose and reply, “I too am already what I am going to be when I grow up. I am peaceful, content, very much in love you with, and very happy!”

“Oh, Mom” she rolls her eyes, “you will always be those things!”

“Yes, but with a little practice I will only get better at all those things,” I laugh.

“It would be impossible for you to love me more!” she yells as she takes her nose and rubs it up against mine.

“I thought so too until today came….” I replied.

In the moments that make up the minutes we become who we are meant to be for the day Jesus has given us.

“What do you want to be when you grow up?”