The term vocation is derived from a Latin word vocare, which means “calling.” Calling signifies the grand purpose of one’s life. It involves unseen forces that influence individual choices in career. The invisible force guides people in making critical career decisions that lead to fulfilling one’s destiny (Buechber, 2017). In the modern world, people find it hard to work from vacation. Vocation means that one is on the right career, which leads to the fulfillment of one's desires through work. People are unsatisfied with their job because they failed to match their job with vocation. Profession or occupation, on the other hand, means taking up space (Ferns, 2015). As the term indicates, people do precisely that when it comes to job search. People devote their efforts and waste a lot of resources in education in the wrong occupation. When it comes to job hunting individuals fill up the available vacancies. They don’t care whether it matches their calling or not.
I work in the service industry. I regret that I don’t work to meet my young age career aspirations. The occupation is different from what I dreamed of doing when I grew up. To me, this is just a job to pay my bills and pass the time. There is a common phrase used in the modern employees or job seekers, “mi takes the job because I don’t know what to be idle.” The quote describes what occupation is in the modern era. Jobs have become scarce (Bonhoeffer, 2008). Employees are retiring and living miserable lives just because of mistaking work and vocation. Every individual has a defined career call. This call is the critical purpose for one’s existence.
Some time back, I had an encounter in my work in the service industry. The thought kept startling my mind. In many churches, there is a growing divide between the Christian calling and the job. Two years after securing a career in the service industry, I attended a weekly church gathering. The theme of the discussion was on the challenges encountered in differentiating Christian calling and responsibility. The main participants in the meeting where young adults ready to be educated on Christian vocation. The experience was exciting.
On settling down, the primary facilitator was welcomed to address the gathering. The facilitator called for fifty young adults to leave their seats and move in front of the audience. I was among the volunteers. The facilitator ordered the volunteers to stand in different locations for work-related questions. The first statement was, “my job meets my career aspirations and fully satisfy me.” Majority of the volunteers went to specific location signaling their job dissatisfaction. I was among the majority. Few went in the opposite direction indicating partial satisfaction with their job. It was clear that the majority were not satisfied with their occupation.
The second statement made by the facilitator was, “the job I do is close to what I dreamed of doing when I was young, and it’s close to my calling.” The response was quite obvious. Some had movements that signaled NO response and others YES response. Few stayed in the middle indicating their state of confusion. The behavior meant that few are in their dream jobs while the majority were working just because they do not want to be idle; that is, working to afford daily expenses. I don’t want to comment on my reaction.
After the various responses, the third statement was made. “My job satisfied me spiritually, I feel I am close to God in my job.” People made multiple movements. Some volunteers were not sure of their answers about the statement. After all the changes ceased, I realized that only one person on the other side was symbolizing total agreement to the facilitator statement. The majority of young adults were on the opposite side of the room. The entire gathering was in surprise. The room was full, but there were no movements. The main point of the facilitator was articulated in the minds of all young adults in the gathering.
The facilitator seems to have expected the reaction. He decided to seek the reasons for the behavior. The majority said that the statement caught them off guard. Others did not even know that work had any relationship with spiritual belief. They had never considered such a link in their career. On close examination of my excellent response, I whispered to myself that I should be somewhere neutral. I loved my work in the service industry, but given a chance, I would like to change to a different occupation. The feeling affirms that this is not my dream job. As stated by Ferns (2015), identifying one's career calling is difficult. The decision requires a lot of spiritual intervention.
According to Buechner, there are many different voices which call an individual to take a particular job or career path. The challenge is in deciding which of the forces represent the call from God rather than self-interests, community influence or superego (Buechber, 2017). For an individual to be successful in their job, he/she should find work that God needs them to do. In most occasions, the dream job reveals itself at a young age. As people grow the work influences, their career choices and people end up taking professions different from their callings (Ferns, 2015). The results of such mismatch are discouraging. They are a disadvantage to the community, the individual and the society. Among the drawbacks of the job misplacement is poor performance, early retirement, labor turnover among others (Hardy, 2013). Although I feel satisfied in my job, there are occasions I think that I don’t have passion in doing them. Such feelings are symptoms of career and vocation mismatch.
Biblical narratives teach us that some may have a job, but all of us have a vocation. According to the scriptures, vocation entails serving others, at the same time, loving and following the will of God. The notion motivates my work efforts in the service industry (Buechber, 2017). The call of Samuel is interesting. No one could ever expect that God would have a request for a young boy like Samuel. Calling is a direct revelation from God. People should pay attention to and preserve the call. Vocation makes us perfect in our work engagements.
The modern world has become complicated. People are taking jobs just because they have fallen vacant. People are learning to gain the basic. Specialization has become a thing of the past. Employers are looking for employees who can multitask. Job seekers and employees have shifted to the modern paradigm (Hardy, 2013). Church leaders and other spiritual servants need to whistleblow on the issue. Calling in a career is what makes one perfect. Research has shown that employees who match their career call in job placement perform better compared to those who seek personal interests (Ferns, 2015). In the modern workplace, no more rewards on traditional factors like honesty, dependability, hard work, experience, skills and talent. The pursuit of accumulating the highest profit, exploiting the talents of workers and unethical completion is the norm in the labor market.
References
Bonhoeffer, D. (2008). The Place of Responsibility. Engaging Bonhoeffer, 65-86. Retrieved from http://fortresspress.com/product/ethics-dietrich-bonhoeffer-works-volume-6
Buechber, F. (2017). VOCATION. Retrieved from http://www.frederickbuechner.com/quote-of-the-day/2017/7/18/vocation
Ferns, S. (2015). Book Review: Vocation: Discerning Our Callings in LifeVocation: Discerning Our Callings in Life, SchuurmanDouglas J. (Schuurman2004), xiv + 190 pp, £16.99 pbk. Theology, 108(842), 141-142. doi:10.1177/0040571x0510800223
Hardy, L. (2013). Career Choice. Making the Match. Retrieved from http://modern-daypilgrim.blogspot.com/2013/05/making-match-career-choice.html
