Why another book on ‘Calling’ had to be written – Your ‘Element’ is not too hard to find
Writers, coaches and consultants, in both the secular and Christian worlds, agree that the majority of people from thirties up to retiring age, when questioned about their life and career choices, admit that they have not really enjoyed or felt fulfilled in what they have done.
Many of the same people, those with faith and those without, will nevertheless admit to having an in-built sense of purpose (even ‘specialness’), that has not found an outlet and still needs to be drawn out and clarified. This should not come as a shock because all men and women have been made in the image of God and therefore imbued with purpose, whether they actively acknowledge Him or not.
The concept of ‘calling’, when raised, is met with a surprising amount of recognition and understanding but, despite living with a lack of fulfillment, most people are reluctant to explore the subject seriously. Key reasons for this are:
a) they intuitively know that ‘calling’ is a broad concept and encompasses craftsmanship of all kinds but, at the same time, a much narrower definition is being used in the available Christian literature; And
b) they know their own calling is not to a form of Christian ministry and so the available Christian literature probably won’t help.
Now, you might be thinking at this point, ‘He has missed out another, blindingly obvious, key reason’, namely, that people have enough hassle without wanting to get sucked into some intensely pressurised quest for ‘the thing I am meant to be doing with my life’. And anyway, you might argue, I don’t want to become that person who walks around all the time saying, ‘thus says the Lord’ when it’s as clear as the nose on your face that He hasn’t said it! Well, trust me, I do not want you to become that person. Neither do I have any intention of applying pressure on you to find ‘your thing’.
I happen to believe that it’s not primarily about ‘the thing’, it’s actually about relationship with God where there’s a growing realisation of how different He has made us and how interested He is in giving us stuff to do that we’ll enjoy. I also believe that God is quite clever and, knowing both how He has made us and how poor we are at hearing what He tries to say, via different routes, He often presents opportunities that trigger our interest. He does that in order to tempt us to action and engagement with Him.
It is often in the ongoing validation we receive from those actions and the unmistakable sense of the rightness of what we are doing that we discover His guidance. Of course, there’s the possibility that we are either not doing the right things or doing stuff that’s ok but a long way from fulfilling. In such cases, I believe God will give us a sense of ‘dis-ease’ and find ways to talk to us about better alternatives.
Interestingly, the current generation of graduates and young professionals, when talking about career decision-making, have adopted a conceptual framework using vocabulary such as ‘vocational discernment’, ‘understanding your call’, ‘passion, gifts & talent’, ‘doing what brings you joy’. These are largely secular people using terminology we might previously have thought of as ‘spiritual’.
I would therefore propose that 3 things are necessary:
to present what the Bible really says about calling and craftsmanship;
to understand what God is passionate about and how He wants to employ us – after all, the only works of lasting value are those that He initiates;
to talk both to older people (before it’s too late) and to younger people (before they get cynical) about how to hear God and how to ‘find their element’;
So, what do I mean by ‘find their element’? Prof. Ken Robinson has created the best definition: it is that place where ‘natural aptitude meets personal passion’. And God is the only one who knows where that place is and how to get there, for each person made in His image.
