Finding Our Calling

"The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world's deep hunger meet."  

- Frederick Buechner

In my former life as a classroom teacher I began each school year by having my classes build "The Dream Wall" in my room.  Each student posted pictures relating to things they'd like to do or accomplish in their life.  It's an idea stolen from the book The Dream Manager by Matthew Kelly.  This was probably the most popular assignment I gave during the year. 

This year I have asked my senior basketball players to send me a list of their dreams, or more specifically, things they would like to do in the future.  My goal between now and graduation is to help connect them to people who are already doing what they want to someday do.  I call it "stalking our dreams" and it can be incredibly insightful.  

However, after announcing the project to the seniors this summer we have encountered an interesting obstacle.  Their whole lives they have been asked, "What do you want to be when you grow up?"  Astonishingly, after 18 years of contemplation, many of them still have no idea!  

Discovering our passion, or our calling, can be an intimidating proposition.  How does one figure out what we are meant to do, and better yet, how do we find a way to get paid to do it?

While I was a graduate student at Gonzaga University I encountered some interesting reading on the subject.  For those of us still struggling to figure out what we want to be when we grow up, here are some thoughts to consider.

In her essay "Work as a Calling," Elizabeth Jeffries wrote, "Listen and be attentive to your surroundings... If you want to discover, clarify, or refine your calling, start by listening."  

Listening to what?  For starters - consider your life experiences.  As you look back at various jobs, classes, sports, etc. What have you really loved or enjoyed doing?  What have you hated?  What did you find to be rewarding?  What roles did you play best? (team leader, follower, motivator, encourager, "glue guy," team mom, etc..)  What made you feel like you were wasting your time?  

In your experiences, who did you connected with?  Who were your strongest relationships with?  Who built into you?  Who impacted your life, and whose life did you impact?  

Sorting through these kinds of questions can help identify those things we were made to do, to enjoy, and to excel at.

Richard Bolles, in How to Find Your Mission in Life, identifies some criteria for discovering our passion.  He says that your mission is,

(1) To exercise the talent you came here to use, that you love to use most... 

(2) In the place or environment that most appeals to you...

(3) For the purposes that are most apparent in the world.

This is not a simple task!  Michael Novak, author of The Joy of Sports, notes that callings are not usually easy to discover.  "Many false paths may be taken before the fulfilling path is uncovered.  Experiments, painful setbacks, false hopes, discernment, prayer, and much patience are often required before the light goes on."

Below is the story of Jamal Adams, a Wall Street success story who gave up a six-figure salary to return to his alma mater to coach and teach.  His story includes a compelling passion to do what he loved, for those he loved, in the place he loved.  

Jamal Adams '90 from Loyola High School on Vimeo.

Abraham Maslow described the urgency of discovering our unique calling this way, 

"If you deliberately set out to be less than you are capable of, you will never truly be happy."  

He's probably right.