Thursday, October 24, 2013

On Callings, Vocations, and Jobs

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I qualify as a work-at-home mom this week: I took on an editing job.  The pay seems outlandish, although the workload is more than I had anticipated.  It's good to get my hands dirty and have a project that will have a clear end (read: not laundry or dishes or crabby children that are constantly undoing my hard work!), and it reminded me of something I read recently:

There is a lot of confusion over what is sometimes called a vocation.  Usually when people speak of their vocation, they meant their job.  When I use the word vocation, I have in mind the older usage, which used to be known as a “calling.”  I distinguish between a person’s job and his calling.  Put differently, I distinguish between his occupation and his vocation.  A job is work that someone does to earn a living.  It’s what puts food on the table.  A calling is very different in most cases.  A calling is the most important thing you can do in which you would be most difficult to replace.  There are a few people who are fortunate enough to find a job that is also their calling.  Teachers and preachers are paid to do the most important thing they can do, and for which they would be most difficult to replace. 
--Ron Paul,
The School Revolution, pg. 43

Job vs. calling.  Where on the spectrum do you fall?


As my mind is occupied with my editing work, I don't have many other thoughts on the subject--so give me yours!  What is your calling?  Do you know?  Is it different from your job, and does that matter?

Leave a comment, I'd love to hear your take!

1 comment:

  1. I truly appreciate this post because it gives me pause to add a wrinkle to your take. As it is, I have the pleasure to have a job that I increasingly know to be my calling. We rarely, if ever, find our calling in life without the people who God intentionally puts in our paths to help steer us in the right (His) direction. I am able do pursue my job/calling because I am blessed by a wonderful woman who God prepared me for and with whom I am able to share in the frustrations and success . And for this I am left only to praise God whose plan is ever so good and intentional.

    -Professor

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