One Essential Aspect of Finding Your Calling
The Mystery of a Calling
Have you found your calling in life?
Have you found that one thing you were made to do?
Finding your calling can feel like a mystery. You believe it is possible, but it rarely seems to happen. It is easier to earn a degree than it is to discover your purpose. It is easier to become certified at something than it is to add meaning to the world.
Like winning the lottery it seems to be the kind of thing that happens to somebody else.
photo by Dave Herholz (creative commons license)
We know people who seem to have found their way through the fog of mystery and doubt. We watch individuals excel and thrive in a way we wish we could.
When I watch Bob Goff interact with the students of Restore Leadership Academy, I want to whimsical like him. When I read books written by Jonathan Safran Foer, I want to put words together like him. When I see Kevin Durant launch a three with ease, I want to be as skillful as him. When I listen to Gary Clark, Jr. play the guitar, I want to play like him. When I hear the stories of other adoptive parents, I want to be as giving and loving as them.
Each of these people seem to have found something special. And it makes me wonder if I have found my calling. Am I doing the thing I was made to do. Am I on the right path? Or am I walking down a road that leads to a wasted life?
What is Your Calling?
Inherent to the idea of a calling is that we possess different talents and abilities and interests and gifts. All of us are different. Thank God.
And because we are different, there is something that you would be better at doing than others. There is some work that you would excel at. Some purpose that you could fulfill. There is some work, thought it may be laborious, that would not even feel like work to you. There is some occupation that would amaze you that somebody would pay you to do it.
All you have to do is figure out what it is.
I don’t know what you were made to do. But I do know part of what your calling is. I do know at least one essential aspect of what it is you were made to do with your life.
You are called to love.
I don’t suggest that you merely love the work you do. I specifically mean that you were made to love other people.
- You were made to be sacrificial.
- You were made to be selfless.
- You were made to do good for those who can’t do for themselves.
- You were made to take an extra step.
- You were made to stop and notice the needs of others.
- You were made to say no to yourself so that you have more to give to those who need.
Inherent to finding your calling is finding purpose in the work. And there is no greater purpose than loving others.
You Can Start Today
The beautiful thing about love is that you don’t have to wait to start. You don’t need a degree or a certification. You don’t have to wait for somebody to choose you or offer you a position.
You don’t even have to be very good at it.
But like all other things, the more you practice, the more you say yes to love, the more loving you will become.
