I remember coming home for a break during college and feeling frustrated about my apparent lack of calling. In moments I thought I knew what I wanted to do, but deep down I was a little less certain than I let on. Slowly that uncertainty rose to the surface and came to a head during my senior year when I realized I didn’t know what I wanted to do after graduation.

At the time I thought that a calling was a specific career that God had laid out for me and it was my job to discover that career path. Through conversations over the years, including many with Belmont students, I’ve learned that I was not alone in my understanding of calling or the anxiety that accompanied my uncertainty. What if I miss my calling? What if I pick the wrong career? How do I even know what my calling is?

I have learned a few things from those with far more experience and wisdom than myself that broadened my understanding of calling and has brought much freedom in my life. I hope it can prompt freedom in yours as well.

Calling is broad: As followers of Jesus we know our broad call – to love God and love others and to live in a way that reflects the love, justice, beauty and grace of God in all that we do. God invites us into loving relationship and calls us to participate in the healing of the broken world. This will look different for each of us, but all of us are called to live in such a way that reflects Christ’s redemptive love in the world around us.

Calling is more about who we are than what we do: As we read the teachings of Jesus, we find that God is far more concerned about the person we become than what we do. What we do matters, but as Jesus teaches, what we do flows naturally out of the person we are. Loving God and loving neighbor starts with transformation of the heart.

Calling is more than a career: Certainly God calls us to love our neighbor through our career, but God’s calling also transcends all areas of our lives. Regardless of what work looks like, we are called to use our gifts and be present in a way that makes space for God’s redemptive love in our work, relationships, communities, families, church, school, and every other area of our lives.

Calling is here and now: Often we think our calling is supposed to be extraordinary, when it may in fact be as simple as giving someone your full attention in a conversation. No matter how life unfolds for you, all you have is today, and God calls each of us to be present to the day and love those around us as best as we can. Your calling doesn’t start once you graduate, you are living in your calling now.

Our calling doesn’t have to be as complicated as we make it. In fact, all it requires is taking one step at a time on the path that already lies before us. As you contemplate what it looks like to live out God’s calling in your life consider these questions:

• What is an area of your life God might be calling you to grow in? What practical steps do you need to take to grow in this area of your life?
• What gifts do you have? How might you use those gifts to bless, love, and serve those in your life today?
• Who in your life needs a little extra love? How can you demonstrate Christ’s love to them today?

Josh TenHaken-Riedel, Assistant Director of Spiritual Formation

Photo by Tim Johnson on Unsplash