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Finding Your Calling – Part 2

This is the 2nd part of a series on finding your calling. Please be sure to read the first part if you haven’t already. This builds up on the previous one. 

This blog is for those of us who have to decide. How do I know what my calling is? How do I know what job/career/vocation I should pursue?

How do I know what to do with my life? (click pic for source)
What do I do with my life? (click pic for source)

Whenever someone describes their calling, three elements always stand out:

  • It’s something they’re good at. The job brings out the best in them.
  • It’s something they love doing. They’re overjoyed to be paid for something they love to do.
  • It’s something that serves other people. It serves a need that society has, which is why people are willing to give money to it.

So there we have the three elements of an ideal profession. And if you’re looking for yours, you can try asking yourself these questions:

1. Something I’m Good At

  • What am I good at doing?
  • What have people complimented me about?
  • What parts of my current work do I do better than average?
  • What things can I learn extraordinarily quickly?
  • What kind of work do people often entrust to me?

 

2. Something I Love Doing

  • What am I passionate about?
  • What do I find myself thinking about on a regular basis?
  • If money was not a concern, what would I love to do everyday?
  • What kind of activities make the time go by?
  • What kind of activities can I for a seemingly unlimited amount of time?

 

3. Something that Serves Others

  • What are the needs/opportunities that I notice around me?
  • What problems do I notice in many places that I look?
  • What do I dream of seeing in my school, city, community, industry, or nation?
  • Do I ever look at something and say, “This could be so much better?”
  • Do I ever look at something and say, “This kind of thing shouldn’t happen again?”

 

I hope these questions help, but they aren’t a guarantee that we’ll find what we’re looking for just by answering a questionnaire. Tests and psychological profiles can help some people, but they can also be very restricting if taken too seriously. 

I think my main problem with just this method is it’s too passive and introspective. It’s hard to find one’s calling while standing still. 

Nehemiah realized he would rebuild Jerusalem’s walls while he was a cupbearer. Ruth was providing food for her mother-in-law when she found the love of her life. Peter was a fisherman who became a fisher of men. Paul was a simple disciple of Jesus, until he was appointed an apostle to the Gentiles. Joseph was assisting the warden of the prison one day and governor of Egypt the next. And the list goes on.

So if you really want to find your calling, here’s my advice: Do your best wherever you are now. Honor God and serve others by the excellence of your work. If you’re good at it, God will promote you. If you’re bad at it, you’ll be transferred to another line of work. Either way, the experience is good for you.

In short, be faithful where you are now and God’s calling for your life will be revealed in time.

In the coming days, I will blog at least six different meditations from the Bible to help us better understand this process of finding our life’s calling.

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