Souled Out

Unemployment and under-employment create a crisis for many, and that crisis can include a sense of spiritual bankruptcy. However, a spiritual crisis also is an invitation.

The invitation is to do some work reflecting, praying, and assessing our calling. To speak of "calling" is to assume there is a "Caller" which I believe is God. What is God calling us to do?

The thoughts that follow may serve as a starting point.

Preparing your heart and mind

Here are some thoughts from:
Smith, Gordon T. (1999). Courage & Calling. IL: InterVarsity Press.

"God calls people.

A 'calling' is always a demonstration of the love of God and the initiative of God; but more, it is through vocation that we come to an appreciation that God takes us seriously.

We can understand the call of God in three distinct ways:

• The general call: our personal relationship with God
• The specific call: a vocation that is unique to each person, an individual's mission in the world
• The immediate call: the tasks or duties to which God calls each person at the present time.

I will be using the word calling or vocation not primarily as an occupation or "line of work" but nevertheless to speak of our engagement with the world in response to God. We must consider this second sense of call in light of the other two dimensions noted above. Our vocation is a critical way in which we fulfill the call..."

The daily demands on our lives are not necessarily threats to the fulfillment of our vocation: they are all part of what it means to be called to God.

The context of our lives and work

Our world is changing. And this change is having a profound effect on the way we live, the way we work and the way we think about our lives and our work. The only way that we can possibly begin to respond well to the change is to face it honestly. While we often bemoan it --- it inevitably means losses --- what we urgently need is the capacity to see change as opportunity.

The crisis we face

Different people experience crisis in their lives and work in different ways and at different times. But when I have seen it --- in myself and my friends, peers, neighbours and colleagues --- it has four distinct dimensions:

• A crisis of employment
• A crisis of confidence
• A crisis of focus
• A crisis of meaning

Vocational integrity

When we ask the question, "What is God calling me to do with my life, and specifically at this time of my life," we are wise to begin by responding intentionally to the two commands that are implicit in the words of the apostle Paul in Romans 12:3-8: know yourself; be true to yourself.

Know yourself

The first command is simply "Know yourself." It is implicit in what we read in Romans 12:3: "For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of yourself more highly than you ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned."

What is the ability, the talent, the enabling that God has given you?"

Gordon T. Smith, 1999
Courage & Calling
ISBN 0-8308-2254-2

Sober Judgment

Computer-based, self-paced assessments can help you determine the abilities, talents and enabling that God has given you. Here is a place to start.