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Paul Menzel,
professor at Pacific Lutheran University who founded the
Wild Hope vocation-in-higher-education project, says,
“Vocation is meaning and purpose in an individual’s
life, … more than the American translation of a
successful job.” He explained that, according to Martin Luther,
no matter where you are, there are sacred elements in life
that make
where you work a vocation. Menzel said, “There has to be a
balance between calling and choice, religiously and
psychologically.”
Menzel
suggests five ways to find your vocation:
1. Get
educated. Study other cultures and history.
Get outside the narrow slice of your life in
21st-century America.
2. Travel. Go
to other societies, across the world, across the
country, or across town.
3. Be open.
Explore. Decide to have different experiences.
4. Have the
courage to fail. Too many people worry about failure
before 30. Take a year, and try something that might
fail.
5. Be patient.
Meaning and purpose will find you, but not overnight.
That’s true if you’re talking about God’s plan or
creating your own.
Kristen Glass,
director for young adult ministry, ELCA, is the one who
told me not to ask, “What do I want to be?” but “Who am
I right now?” and “How do I interact with the world
around me?” Glass defined what vocation is — and isn’t: “Vocation isn’t about balance, but it is about
being centered on the right things.” She reminded me
that Luther called us to serve God in our churches,
jobs, schools, and families.
As Glass said,
“Vocation is not a job. Vocation is our unique skills,
gifts, talents, and passions meeting the needs of our
communities. It’s who we are right now.”
Now I had even more questions: Is it really
possible to “work” for God in a desk job? Can you make
any job a vocation? How do you find balance, or a
centered life?
Some say it’s
the search that matters, it's the asking that validates
the question — any question — regardless of the answer.
At least I
understand now that vocation is more than a job. But I
still see my job as my place in my community — my
potential to do good.
And although the craving for
meaning and purpose is universal, I’m still very aware
of the luxury of having the energy, time, and tools
to consciously question my purpose and search for work
that fulfills my passions. Not everyone has that luxury.
Glass said,
“Finding your answer will never be one big ‘aha!’
moment. It’s a series of those moments.”
So maybe these
questions, this point in my life, are one of those many
moments. In the world I believe I am called to serve,
maybe this is my vocation: to be me, Emilie, who writes
and sings, whose not-so-secret desires are to be a
little famous and very useful, and who is passionate
about serving God in my daily work … whatever that work
turns out to be.
Emilie Rommel works as a technical writer by day and an
actress (whenever she can fit it in) in Tacoma, Wash.
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