Updating Our Scripts About Calling

Published by Paul Matsushima on October 25, 2022
Category: Newsletters | Tags: Vocation (6)

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Before working at Fuller Seminary, I carried around a couple of dysfunctional beliefs about work and calling.

This article was originally written for the Faith.Work.Leadership newsletter of Fuller’s Max De Pree Center for Leadership.

Before working at Fuller Seminary, I carried around a couple of dysfunctional beliefs about work and calling. I thought they had to be rooted in my passions, waiting to be uncovered like buried treasure in the sand. And finding such a unique calling would define me and therefore make me special and significant. Little did I know holding such grandiose views not only gave me unattainable expectations, but I also judged certain callings worthy and others not.

I’ve been able to update my script, and now know that callings are multifaceted: we are called to belong, called to be creative, called to participate in God’s mission of redemption, and called to particulars (i.e., particular places, people, or situations). And, our callings are often formed, not found.

This has helped me lean into one of the particulars I’m called to right now: raising two elementary-aged children. I am called to be present and engaged in their daily homework assignments, nightly bedtime routines, soccer games, and music lessons. I am called to be emotionally available through small chats and check-ins throughout the day, to ask how their days were, or to simply reassure them that I’m there for them and am proud of who they are.

Our callings are dynamic and worthy. I hope you can think about your own sense of work and calling, no matter where you are in your life and leadership.