What’s your reason for waking up every day and doing what you do? What is your drive to be better at what you do? What is your purpose each day? These are the questions that inspire today’s blog, generated by media students at MBU.
Photo illustration by Torrance Littles
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My younger brothers are my motivation for getting up each morning and grinding out the day with everything I’ve got. My brothers mean everything in this to world to me and nothing short of it, so as the eldest son, out of a family of seven, I bear a responsibility to show them the brightest future I can. I know what the feeling is like to wake up and not have a role model or anyone to help you make hard decisions. Lucky for me, their gleaming eyes stay glued to my every movement, trying to follow the same big footprints I have left behind me. In my eyes I’m their biggest role model so I have to achieve the impossible and be better than your average person. Even though I have left them with a great impression I don’t want them to be intimidated by the achievements I have accomplished thus far. I have accomplished what most adults in my family wanted to do when they were younger or could have never accomplished if they tried. I want them to see this challenge as a stepping stone in their life because even though it’s a hard thing to do, it’s not impossible. They are still young so I have faith they will grow into young men who will overcome my challenges and surpass me in the long run, and I will be right there by their side supporting them. So the reason I wake up and challenge myself each day is for my brothers, who will one day dethrone this king from his seat and surpass me in life. ____________________________________________________________ By JON ELLISON We all get of bed for a reason. For some it might be to put food on the table, for others it could be to go to school and educate themselves. I think of these things as well when I am asked this question. However, to truly answer this, I believe you must have a relationship with God. You have to spend time with Him and ask what His plans are for your life. We weren’t given life to simply put food on the table or get a better education. For me, I get up to fulfill what I believe God has told me to do. We will all have those days where our bed is the hardest goodbye, but it is those days that make us better people. It is in those days where we can have some of the best encounters with people who you would otherwise be missing out on. So get up. ____________________________________________________________ By AUDREY FROST My why is why not. Humankind has evolved into the race we are because our ancestors got up to hunt and feed their families early each morning. If we’ve come this far, why stop? I think everyone has a purpose. Something they were born for. Something inside telling them to wake up another day. I wake up for myself. I wake up for my family, so that on days they don’t want to get up, there’s someone there telling them to. I wake up because the Lord doesn’t give us what we can’t handle. Photo illustration by Dani Jo Stevenson ___________________________________________________________________________ By HOLLEY M. DINKINS This question is one that really picks at your inner desires. The drive to be human, to be kind, and to live requires a passion of some sort. Everybody needs to feel they have a purpose. Personally, the why in my life is more of a mystery. Why I strive for greater things? To find my purpose. I’ve found that being compassionate allows me to feel fulfilled by the help I can offer others. Doing great things in life requires us to follow our passion. I have a passion to help, to inform, to reform. A big reason why I continue to strive for greatness is for my future self. To prosper later, you must put in hard work here and now. ____________________________________________________________ By ISAIAH KING My why is my belief that I can always be better at whatever I’m doing, no matter what it may be: volunteer work, a race, football or being a child of God. Usually when someone starts doing better than others around them, it makes the others want to do better. I strive to be that someone who pushes other people to be better. My why is also because I want others around me to smile. Knowing that you are the reason that someone has a genuine smile on their face is the best feeling. For instance, I play football, and when I do positive things on the field or get achievements or accolades it brings this honor to my parents. In return, I receive this warm smile from both my Mom and Dad that makes me want to get up the next day to do it again.
Photo illustration by Holley M. Dinkins
Triston Buckley 
Emily Retzer