Our Calling

This morning, as I was waiting for my car to be serviced, an older gentleman struck up a conversation with me regarding the magazine I was reading. He said he reads the same magazine and from there we found out we are both the father of twins, which gave us plenty to talk about.

In the course of the conversation, he divulged he is a retired Episcopal minister and asked me what I did for work. "Uhh...well, let me just say it's product marketing at Thomson Reuters." He wasn't satisfied by that answer: "What kind of products?", "Who do you have to work with?", "Do you meet regularly with other individuals or do you call meetings as you go?"

It was nice because it gave me the chance to articulate what I do. I also conveyed to him that I like the results-driven culture and the flexibility it gives me. That said, I continued, I like that I have a place to go for work and the separation between my work and home lives the workplace gives me. I believe that working from home regularly is insidious in that it blurs the line between work life and home life.

"It's funny you mention that," he responded, "because, as ministers, we're like the old family doctor in that we're on call for our parishioners 24/7. And so, the place where we draw the line between work life and the everything-else is always blurred."

"Well, I'm glad that I'm not important enough and what I do isn't important enough to require me to available like that," I said.

"Oh no," he said, "don't say that. What you do is your calling. I was called to do what I do and you were called to do what you do. In that sense, what I do is no more important than what you do and vice-versa. The President of the United States is no more important than the carpenter. They were both called to do what they do."

We continued to chat until he was called to the service desk. His statement that this is my calling initially made me feel validated - validation is always nice! - but when I thought more about it, I began to wonder: is this job truly my "calling"? Does it compensate me fairly? Yes. As aforementioned, am I validated by my boss and my colleagues? Yes. Do I generally enjoy what I do and, dare I ask, actually have fun from time to time? Yes. But, do I see myself doing this forever? Do I see this role evolving into something that is going to continually challenge me? Do I see this role making me an expert in something and someone people defer to? Do I see this role developing, sharpening, and honing skills? These are all questions I need to ask and answer for myself before I consider this my calling.

Of course, a job is just a job. The questions to which I answered "yes" above are just as important as the questions to which I don't have an answer. And just like the perfect house, the perfect job is most often elusive. We compromise with ourselves on what's more important and go for those criteria. And just like a house from which you can move, you can always switch jobs. So, I guess what I'm saying is the calling is more than the job. Does the job fulfill enough of the criteria that you need to heed your calling?

Personally, I don't know what my calling is. It's something I'm still listening for. But, there are a million quotes out there about how the journey is or teaches you about the destination.

MSL