I asked the Guides of the Akashic Records to speak to the topic of the soul’s purpose in incarnating, and the meaning of each life. This is what they said:

A soul is more than just this incarnation, as you know. And the meaning of a particular lifetime is minor when compared to the great arc of discovery and exploration that is the destiny of a soul’s entire existence. 

Each soul is like a bud that must open over time. Each lifetime can be compared to one petal of that flower. You do not know the whole beauty of your soul from viewing a single petal. 

And yet, that petal is significant and essential. 

Each lifetime is an expression of one or more petals – the ones that have already opened and are well established and the new petal that is being developed in this time. It is a gradual process that takes place over many incarnations and experiences in the life of a soul. 

From your perspective in this life, you are the one, the totality. But from the higher vantage point your life is seen as a petal opening in a most beautiful flower whose entire fullness you cannot yet see. 

Allow the petals of your lifetime to come to full expression. Nothing more and nothing less. Enjoy the accomplishment of the petals that have already opened and which provide your life with its richness and blessings. Know that the challenges of this life are also here to help you develop the next stage of your truth.

What a beautiful and miraculous journey you are on – the full meaning of which you cannot know until all are assembled in the final garden of joy and delight.