What's your calling?

“Sooner or later something seems to call us onto a particular path. You may remember this something as a signal calling in childhood when an urge out of nowhere, a fascination, a peculiar turn of events struck like an annunciation: This is what I must do, this is what I’ve got to have. This is who I am.” James Hillman

When Marie Curie was four she wandered into her father’s study and marveled before a glass case filled with a variety of laboratory instruments. She couldn’t look away. For years she spent time in that study until one day she entered a real laboratory to conduct her own experiments. In that moment she felt immediately reconnected with her childhood obsession and knew she had found her calling.

As a child, Martha Graham was frustrated by her inability to express herself. Then one day, she saw a dance performance. She saw the lead dancer express herself in a way that transcended anything capable verbally. She soon took her first dance class and discovered her calling. Years later she revolutionized modern dance.

These are great stories—for Martha and Marie. 

But what about you and me?

This is the question I’ve been thinking about this week—what’s your calling?

Calling

What do you think of when you hear the word calling?

For many people, “calling” is closely linked with the idea of finding a profession they are deeply passionate about. This is what happened in the stories above with Marie and Martha and is what we find in similar stories about individuals like Leonardo DaVinci, Jane Goodall, Charles Darwin, and others. 

But maybe the professional aspect is only one way to look at it.

Here’s a few different definitions of this concept.

Merriam-Webster defines calling as: “a strong inner impulse toward a particular course of action especially when accompanied by conviction of divine influence”

"The place where your deep gladness meets the world's deep need." 

Frederick Beuchner

“At your birth a seed is planted. That seed is your uniqueness. It wants to grow, transform itself, and flower to its full potential. It has a natural, assertive energy to it. Your Life’s Task is to bring that seed to flower, to express your uniqueness through your work. You have a destiny to fulfill.” Robert Greene

“For as God bestows any ability or gift upon any of us, he binds us to such as have need of us and as we are able to help” John Calvin

None of these descriptions mention anything specific about your day job. 

My favorite description is the one from John Calvin which essentially is this—God has given you specific gifts and your calling is to find a way to use those gifts to serve individuals who need what those gifts offer. Yes! 

Maybe that happens in your day job. Maybe that happens in a hobby. Maybe that happens in a volunteer position. Maybe that happens in your church. Maybe that happens in your neighborhood. 

But for that to happen, you first need to know your calling.

YOUR calling

“What we have learned is that ultimately, the best way for a person to discover what he ought to do is to find out who and what he is, because the path to ethical and value decisions, to wiser choices, to oughtness, is via ‘isness,’ via the discovery of facts, truth, reality, the nature of the particular person. The more he knows about his own nature, his deep wishes, his temperament, his constitution, what he seeks and yearns for and what really satisfies him, the more effortless, automatic, and epiphenomenal become his value choices.” Abraham Maslow

Finding your calling is an exercise in intentional self discovery. I love how Maslow says the “ought” follows the “is.” Understand who you are and then you will have a better understanding of what you ought to do. 

“Look for its traces in visceral reactions to something simple; a desire to repeat an activity that you never tired of; a subject that stimulated an unusual degree of curiosity; feelings of power attached to particular actions. It is already there within you. You have nothing to create; you merely need to dig and refine what has been buried inside of you all along.” Robert Greene

Have you spent time thinking about you? Not in passing between scrolls on Instagram but real thoughtful time alone without distraction. Write down your thoughts—imagine building out a personal profile of your nature of who you are.

You will want to recruit some help to deepen your understanding of yourself. Ask your parents about what you were like as a child. What activities would you get lost in? What did they notice about you? As a parent I find myself watching my kids for these indicators and trying to note what I see and then encourage them to lean into these activities.

Talk with your friends and colleagues about what they notice as well and add it to your profile.

Maybe some of these things are gifts, things that just come naturally. Others may just be things you are interested in. Regardless, once you spot them they now must be developed. Just knowing that you enjoy something or are talented at something isn’t enough. It’s proficiency that brings joy and a greater capability to serve. 

Called to serve

John Calvin said the gifts we have make us the perfect complementary piece to those in need of what we have to offer. 

The Quaker writer Douglas Steere said that the question "Who am I?" leads inevitably to the equally important question "Whose am I?" since there is not selfhood outside of relationship.

This means, as we consider our calling, we need to consider who we are meant to serve with the gifts we have been given and the talents we have developed.

Full-time, part-time, hobby

It’s tempting to think that a calling should be consuming. I’m wrestling with this now. I’m trying to not let my natural inclination to be extreme deter me from doing what I can with the time available. 

My wife knows this about me and bought me a beautifully framed lettered message that says, “there is a season for everything.” This sits in my office and is a constant reminder that I need to enjoy the season I’m in AND that it is ok if the season I am in means that at the moment I may only be able to treat my calling like a hobby. But even with that beautiful reminder, that’s hard for me to accept. 

Let me know if you have any tips for accepting this—or if you think I’m completely wrong and that when you feel called to something, you should just drop everything and dive right in.