Resources to Help You Clarify Your Sense of Calling or Purpose
Let's try wayfinding
In this newsletter:
some thoughts on calling and purpose;
an excerpt from When Work Hurts;
resources to help you clarify your calling or purpose.
Work Hurt and Vocational Discernment
Have you met my friend Beth? I introduce her in Chapter 4 of When Work Hurts. Frustrated after years of trying to build a business, she found herself trying to discern what God wanted her to do. Should she close the business and look for a job? Should she explore new avenues for sales and try to turn a profit?
When work hurts, it can throw us into a season of internal chaos. Our minds may be a cacophony of questions: Should I quit my job? Should I pick a new career? If so, which one? Would I be happier in a different department? If we can quiet them for a moment, beneath them, a steady hum of deeper questions resounds. Who am I? What am I good at? What do I care about? What does God want me to do with my life?
To wrestle with these questions with God is to engage in clarifying our sense of calling or purpose, what some call vocational discernment. Vocational discernment is the process of listening to God’s invitation to us to use the gifts and resources he’s given us to partner in his redemptive work in the world.
Vocational Discernment as Wayfinding
I compare vocational discernment to wayfinding, an ancient practice Pacific Islanders developed for navigating between islands using clues in their environment. Here’s an excerpt from Chapter 4 in When Work Hurts, where I describe vocational discernment.
Vocational discernment is a process, but it’s not a step-by-step process like a recipe. It’s not a linear process at all. Instead, it’s a bit more like wayfinding. Pacific Islanders have been practicing wayfinding for centuries. Before they had maps and compasses, these explorers used clues in their environment—the position of the sun and stars, the swells of the seas, the movement of the winds and clouds, and the behavior of the animals—to help them cross the seas from one place to the next. Wayfinding requires paying attention to what’s going on around you; it engages all of your senses—including your intuition. Wayfinding does not yield precise GPS coordinates. Rather, it gives you a bearing, enough information to make your way. The goal of vocational discernment is to get a sense of direction, a bit more information to help us continue on the way of faithfulness.
I suggest that wayfinding requires paying attention to God, our community, ourselves, and the world around us.
To read more on how I understand calling, vocation, and vocational discernment, read Chapters 3-4 in When Work Hurts. In those chapters, I introduce a concept called “everyday faithfulness,” which is key to gaining clarity.
Resources to Help You Clarify Your Sense of Calling or Purpose
So many good vocational discernment resources have been created. I think each could be valuable in helping to get a little more clarity. However, I caution against over-indulging. Too many frameworks can add more confusion. Listening to too many stories of people describing how they got clarity may shape our expectations about how it’s going to work for us.
So, I counsel you to take some wisdom from a couple of these resources. Apply the insights they offer. See what clarity emerges. Remember, we’re not looking for precise GPS coordinates or absolute certainty. We’re prayerfully seeking Spirit-inspired direction and courage to make our way forward.
A Good Primer
If you’re new to this conversation of calling and vocation, you might start with this podcast episode with Steve Garber and Gustavo Santos. Steve has devoted his life to helping us understand the concept of vocation, and you get the basics here, especially on the difference between vocation and occupation. Gustavo is also a dear and wise friend who offers thoughtful insights here.
Ready for Some Wayfinding? Try These Resources
“Your Vocation is Not Canceled” by Emily P. Freeman at The Soul Minimalist. Emily offers some really helpful questions to help us discern what God might be calling us to do in this season.
“Wanting What Doesn’t Want You” by Bekah Stewart at More or Less Human. Bekah writes about closed doors. She interacts with Parker Palmer’s classic Let Your Life Speak and Tracey Gee’s new book The Magic of Knowing What You Want. After reading this, I went re-read Palmer’s chapter on closed doors.
I loved listening to the wisdom about vocational discernment in this webinar put on by Women, Work, and Calling and the Max De Pree Center for Leadership.
For Your Summer TBR Pile
Each of these books contains insights that can help with vocational discernment.
Short Books with Powerful Insights
Read these slowly with a pen in hand.
Let Your Life Speak by Parker Palmer
The Seamless Life by Steve Garber
Books that Help You Do the Work
You may want a journal or some blank paper and a pen to do the exercises prescribed in these books.
Designing Your Life - by Bill Burnett and Dave Evans
The Magic of Knowing What You Want - by Tracey Gee
Looking for Something Else?
I have tons of resources on calling and vocational discernment to share with you. Make sure you’re subscribed so that you don’t miss out on the next list of resources.