Vocation

A few years back I preached a sermon about vocation. I pulled it out the other day so I could preach it to myself. The text was 2 Peter 1.3-11. The passage is bracketed by the word "call." It makes sense to sort out the differences between who we are, our jobs, our vocation, and our sense of God's calling. These are overlapping ideas, of course. That's what makes sorting it out kind of difficult.

It's pretty easy, probably normal, to define yourself by your vocation. It's one of the first questions we ask when we meet someone new. After we've exhausted the conversation about the weather, we usually ask "What do you do?" It helps put the person in some sort of context. But what if you're not doing anything at the moment?

What if we asked instead, "To what are you called?" I think that's a better question. That's the question I need to answer for myself at this point. When I can answer that question, it's going to make mapping out the next steps a lot easier.

This morning I had my first meeting with a career coach. I came away with a strong sense of hope. This process of assessment, resume preparation and placement is going to be a great adventure. I'm excited about the pursuit of a position that will involve the right match of my skills and giftedness with the work to be done. My prayer is that this process will be at least part of what God uses to help me define his call on my life.

"His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us..." 2 Peter 1.3