http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:CrayonLogs.jpg

Over the past month, I’ve had conversations with two different friends about what it means to be “me” – whoever you are. We all came to the same conclusion:

One thing that makes you you is that you find special satisfaction in doing a particular type (or types) of work. You’ve been uniquely gifted, and if you’re not regularly exercising those gifts, you’re acting contrary to how you were created to act.

Those gifts could be anything: dancing, typing, editing, marketing, talking with people, building, designing, writing, punching or crunching numbers, analyzing, caring for someone, snapping a picture, digging holes, driving, teaching, learning – whatever. The thing is, sometimes your desired vocation doesn’t turn out to be your occupation – at least for a particular season in life. But hang in there. I say that as one who struggles with this very thing.

Just to clarify: vocation is just one part of who we are. It isn’t the whole person. It’s not even the most important part of the whole. But it’s a part that gets over-emphasized in countries like the USA.