What does it mean that purpose gives direction to meaning?

Example: A retired teacher named David spent three years after his wife

Try this: Draw a vertical line down the center of a blank page. Label the left column "What Matters" and the right column "What I Am Doing About It." In the left column, list five things that genuinely matter to you — not what you think should matter, but what actually generates the felt sense of significance when you encounter it. Connection. Craft. Justice. Beauty. Learning. Whatever is true for you. Then, in the right column, write what you are actively doing — in terms of concrete, recurring behavior — about each item. Be honest. Some items on the left will have rich entries on the right. Others will have nothing. The gaps between the two columns are where purpose is missing. Meaning exists (something matters) but direction does not (you are not doing anything about it). Circle the largest gap. That gap is where your purpose discovery work in this phase should begin.