Westover's Blog
Vocation / 01.23.12, 12:18 PM
Vocation, what does that word mean to you? Is it a calling to a certain career, to follow a specific passion, a call to service and Christian ministry? By definition the word vocation comes from the Latin work vocare which means to call or name, to invoke. Vocation is defined in the dictionary as:
- A particular occupation, business, or profession; calling – A strong impulse or inclination to follow a particular activity or career – A divine call to God’s service or to the Christian life – A function or station in life to which one is called by God
So what is vocation? Is it just one of these definitions or is it all of them combined?
This past weekend I spent time at a retreat with the other Atlanta team members for Mission Year and people from various other service corps in the Atlanta area. The focus of the weekend was to discuss this idea of vocation, especially related to the idea of what comes next after this year. Entering the retreat I was very hesitant. Josh and I have been married for almost 2 years, I’ve worked as a RN for the past 2.5 years, and we already have a good idea of what is happening after Mission Year. We left full time careers to do a year of service because we felt that it would be a great catalyst in to the type of lifestyle we felt God calling us to.
For the majority of people attending this type of background was far from their reality. Due to being a married couple in service corp for young adults, you find yourself frequently interacting with single young adults in the same or similar programs that are at very different places in life. Many questions were posed about what’s next – graduate school, applying for jobs, continuing a 2nd year of service, moving home or staying put.
I questioned was this conversation of vocation really meant for me?
What hit me the most was a talk by a speaker Anton Flores (check him out at alternacommunity.org) where he used the story of God calling Moses in Exodus 3 to discuss the idea of vocation. God knew Moses, knew his inner thoughts, desires, and fears. God knew that Moses, even with his weaknesses, was the one for the job to save His people from Egypt. Moses was content where he was at, but God knew of something more and something better.
So I have what I am passionate about and what my gifts are, but where those two intersect, is that my vocation? Or is my vocation the intersection of those with what God needs of me? That point where my needs and wants meet exactly up with what God’s needs and wants are for my life. Vocation is more than a mere calling or a career path, it is a transformative power God has placed on your life that says, “Come follow me.” A calling that you cannot ignore, otherwise the questions of “what if?” will just eat away at you.
Josh and I decided to do Mission Year because we couldn’t ignore the calling that God had placed on us. We both come from careers of caring for others and we are both very passionate about compassion and love for all, but we knew that we couldn’t keep on living our lives the way we were and be content. We knew deep down that God was standing their beckoning us forward saying, “I’ve got better plans.” While our time so far has been full of ups and downs, I know with every part of my being that this is where God wants me and where he wants us as a couple. I didn’t come to save the community I’m living in. I came to learn, to love, and to be loved. I came to be a neighbor and nothing more. To live out what Christ taught to the best of my ability.
As Dr. Howard Thurman once said, “Don’t ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive and then go do that. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.”
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