Excerpt: Your Calling Is Meant to Be Lived Not Found
Your calling may not be in the burning bush. It may be right in front of you.
This is an excerpt from my new book “31 Days of Faith-Building Moments,” available now.
“Therefore I, a prisoner for serving the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of your calling, for you have been called by God.” — Ephesians 4:1
Ever feel like everyone else got the Instagram-worthy story about their life purpose that somehow never made it to your feed?
You see their posts, out there doing big things, making a difference, living their calling.
And you’re just… doing whatever it is you do over here.
Going to work. Taking care of your family. Trying to keep it all together.
Meanwhile, that little voice inside you wonders when God’s going to reveal this grand calling you’ve been hearing about.
The Myth of the Big Reveal
We’ve created this idea that a calling is a big dramatic moment. A burning bush where God speaks to you and lays out your destiny in crystal-clear detail.
Some massive, unmistakable sign that finally tells you what you’re supposed to be doing with your life.
So we wait for it.
And while we’re waiting, we miss what’s right in front of us.
A Calling Isn’t Just for Missionaries
We get it wrong when we think a calling is reserved for pastors, missionaries, and people who work in full-time ministry.
As if God would only call certain people to certain vocations, and the rest of us are just what… existing?
But that’s not what Scripture says.
Read Ephesians 4:1 again. “Therefore I, a prisoner for serving the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of your calling, for you have been called by God.”
God calls all of us to reflect His character in our everyday lives.
- In the office
- At home
- In the carpool line
- At the grocery store
- In the middle of a difficult conversation with your teenager.
Your calling isn’t some far-off thing you have to hunt down and capture. Your calling is simply being faithful where He has placed you right now.
The irony is that when you’re faithful in the ordinary, patterns begin to emerge. You start seeing God’s design in what looked like random jobs and disconnected experiences. It took me decades to see mine.
Living Life Called
At 18, I had a political editorial published in a large newspaper. It was a spicy take on the Lloyd Bentsen-Dan Quayle debate that I mailed in and checked for obsessively. When it appeared a week later above the fold with a huge headline, I thought my head would explode. What validation!
But I followed other paths that interested me, too. These paths also happened to pay the bills.
I started in web design in the early days of the Internet, helping people leverage technology they didn’t understand. That experience moved me into crafting messages for Fortune 100 companies.
I spent twenty years helping companies get their message out so that those who needed it could actually use it. Even though I was in my groove, the stress of the high-performance environments had me wondering if this was my calling.
Making other people’s words easier to understand.
Along the way, I helped people in ministry find solutions to their spiritual problems. I became a counselor, working with individuals and couples.
It took me until I was almost 50 to see the pattern, and to see my calling.
I’m a Bridge-Builder
No matter what I do, I spot the gap between where someone is and what they need, then I figure out how to close it.
That’s what I was doing at 18 when I helped newspaper readers see a different perspective.
That’s what I was doing when I helped people understand technology.
That’s what I was doing when I translated corporate strategy into clear communication.
That’s what I was doing when I helped people in ministry solve problems.
That’s what I did as a counselor and now in my writing, helping people recognize their power to create change and find freedom.
All those skills God gave me the opportunity to build in those younger seasons now intersect. The calling I thought I’d left behind has been there the entire time, woven through every vocation.
I wasn’t waiting for my calling to show up. And I didn’t find my calling. I recognized it.
Finding implies it was lost or hidden. Recognition means it was there all along. I just hadn’t named it yet.
You’re Already Living It
Maybe you’re like I was, looking for the calling when you’re already living it. The pattern is there. You just haven’t named it yet.
That job you think is just paying the bills may be where God has you right now. The family you’re raising is your mission field. The neighbor who drives you crazy is your opportunity to show Christ’s love.
You’re not in the waiting room when you’re living out the mundane, ordinary, sometimes frustrating circumstances of your everyday life. That’s you living right in the middle of your calling.
This is why it’s so important for you to be faithful in the small things, show up with integrity, and love people well. You point others to Christ through how you live, not just what you say.
End of excerpt
