What is God's purpose for us to achieve in the life he has given us?

Till today I cannot understand what God wants us to achieve in life. Is it happiness? Love? A good career? A significant experience? There are moments of frustration where I am skeptical on what to do and what step to take next. With the belief that our mind is impermanent, is it that God wants us to figure out what we had done in our previous life and continue that same responsibility? Is it a test? A test of how strong our mind is to say no to our distractions and our afflictions? Is he preparing us for something? There have been many years of debate of whether the world will end. The recent speculation is that the world will end on December 21st 2012. The Ancient Mayans state that their calendar stops on this date and hence the world will come to an end. Many have scoffed at this prediction - singers like Britney Spears and Jay Sean have written songs and created an image in teens minds that this prediction is a joke! Movies have been directed showing catastrophic events happening on this day creating a feelings of fear and confusion. 

Are these predictions perhaps warnings to us humans of whether we have accomplished what we are supposed to in life? Perhaps God is reminding us of what our goals are in life, if not, why are these dreadful events happening and harming many innocent people. There have been earthquakes, tsunamis, and many unexplained deaths of penguins, birds and other animals. Why would God want to strand these good people in these awful situations. Is this really God's way of showing that he loves us? Why is he harming our creation - the only explanation I can come up with is that it is a test of our strength. All cultures, religions and races to come together and stay united no matter how deadly an event may be. 

If God is preparing us for something bigger, than perhaps this so called "world ending" is not a physical death but rather a mental death. Perhaps our minds will finally be more open and we will finally be a united species ready to take on anything that may occur in the future.