how faint, that will lead you to your calling. The search may take some time. You must be open to accept that God has something just for you — a divine purpose. When you are confident that your life has a purpose, you will be receptive to your calling.
One reason many of us do not know what we are called to do is that we are taught that only a priest or a minister is called. Each of us, however, has a calling. God does not discriminate. We must expand our understanding of being called to reach outside the walls of the church, cathedral, or synagogue. God’s invitation is extended to all.
God has something for each of us to do; there is no shortage of work. No task or job is too big or too small. We must resist the tendency to put God in one of our boxes and limit the many possibilities. When the pupil is ready, the teacher will come. When we are open, we begin to hear the divine whisper of God leading and directing us or, more specifically, calling us.
When I am working with people, the first question I ask is, “Who are you?” I ask them to complete an “I am” sentence. I insist that they be specific. “I am a lawyer.” “I am a doctor.” “I am a homemaker.” I ask them to answer by sharing who they are and not just what they do. You may be a professor — that’s your career. That does not necessarily mean, however, that’s who you are. Your calling may be as a writer or researcher. Being a college professor simply affords you the opportunity to write or do research. It is important to not only talk about what you do, but to be specific and identify that which speaks to your spirit. I was a basketball player, and I was very good at it, but it wasn’t my calling; it was only my career. If you would have asked me if basketball was my calling, my reply would have been, “No, this is what I do, not who I am.”
oo A calling is who you are. A career is what you do. There are a lot of people who write because their job requires it. But they are not writers, even if they spend the majority of their time writing. They would never say, “I am a writer.” If writing is your calling, however, then you readily identify with “I am a writer.” Some people teach as a career and then there are those teachers who are called to teach. Their career and job title may be corporate trainer, coach, or counselor. Their calling, that which resonates with their spirit, is “teacher.”
Many of us are unable to make the “I am” statement because we are not the subject of our own story. We are living out scripts written for us by other people. For years I could not say, “I am a preacher.” Fear always surfaced