What Are You Called To Do?

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When I was five, I went to the eye doctor for the first time. The eye people (I don’t know what else to call them…) came to our elementary school to test our eyes and, well, there’s only one way to put what I did in my eye exam that day; I failed. There were concerns with how I tested, so it was off to the eye doctor for me. Now, most of us are familiar with the structure of a visit to the eye doctor. We get our eyes dilated, cover one eye, read an eye chart, see if it’s more clear or more blurry as the doctor changes some things, cover our other eye, rinse and repeat. We know that we are reading from an eye chart in front of us that has letters in descending size, which allows the doctor to evaluate how good our eye site is. Well, as a 5 year old, I knew none of this. I didn’t know the order of events, so I walk in, sit in the chair, and the doctor gives me the little paddle with the circle on top to cover my right eye and read the eye chart with my left eye.

“How far down the eye chart can you read?” the doctor asks me.

“What eye chart?” I respond.

I could not see the eye chart with my left eye. I didn’t even know I was supposed to be looking for an eye chart, but nonetheless, I was blind in my left eye. So for the next year or so, while I was at home, I had to wear an eye patch on my right eye to strengthen my left one. And to answer your question, the answer is no, I never dressed up as a pirate for Halloween (which in retrospect was a huge missed opportunity).

When I was in college, I thought I’d be in youth ministry forever. I was very tunnel visioned in my thought process about my future, and my definition of calling had everything to do with the name of the organization at the top of my paycheck. And while I might be in youth ministry forever, my understanding of calling and vocation has changed over the years, I’d argue in a positive and healthy way.

During my time at Fuller Theological Seminary, we had to think of our vocation in terms of an object. We were invited to prayerfully consider what God might be inviting us to do in the world, and to find an object that might represent our unique calling. As we think about employment, we should then think about what type of job would allow us to live out our calling, with the understanding that we can live out any number of callings in any number of fields.

My mind was blown. To me, calling was about jobs. Titles. And I’ve come to understand calling as what we feel uniquely called and equipped by God to do in order to meet needs in the world.

In understanding calling, I think we need a framework, and that’s where personal mission comes in. As I’ve worked with adolescents for the last two years, I’ve realized that while I love teenagers, my call is not to teenagers (GASP!). I have been able to discern what my call is through actual work. I’ve been able to consider what I love about my roles and what I haven’t. I’ve been able to reflect on what things have brought me the most life and excitement, and what things have drained me.

There is no way I would have been able to discern my calling with any accuracy before I had actually worked. For the lack of a better way to put it, I couldn’t “see”, but I didn’t know that. When I was a kid, I had been blind in my left eye for 5 years! And yet, I never knew, because I just thought that was what life was supposed to be like. I didn’t know what I didn’t know. It was only after wearing an eye patch and wearing glasses that I started to realize, oh, I was blind. This is so much better.

In college, I thought calling was one thing, because no one ever told me differently. But once I learned, and listened, and actually experienced life and ministry, my understanding of what calling should be completely changed.

What are you being invited to do in the world by God in order to meet a need? And how might your answer now be different from your answer 12, 20, or 30 years ago?