Opus Day 4: Listen for your calling

[Barque]

“The word vocation comes from the Latin word vox, voice. A vocation is a call.
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The question is not so much does the world give us a direction, but are we able to read the world for its information? We tend to look at the surface of events and deal with them practically. An alternative is to see events as symbols, images, and signs.
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The concrete, visible, material world speaks to us, if we would only listen. You don’t have to do exactly what the signs indicate, but it would help to consider them in evaluating the status of your work life.
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You also have to attend to your interior life to a degree that you can also sense your calling from internal indications. It may be a strong interest, a feeling of magnetism, pleasure, or joy around a particular kind of work, or blissful daydreams. On the other hand, distaste and discomfort on a job may also be a sign to move on. Difficulty at work can stem from many different sources, one of them the mere fact that you are unsuited for the job. Or it may mean that you have lessons to learn and need to stay and be present for them. You have to read your dissatisfaction and your problems at work to find their meaning and take them as signs.”

Today’s Work: Listen for signs in the material world and in your interior life that speak to you about your calling. Write in your journal or share with a close friend the messages you hear.

Share your responses with Barque readers, by replying to this discussion.

[Eileen]

I studied to become an elementary school teacher. Early on, however, I found the work to be too overwhelming for my personality (an introvert in an extrovert job!). So, I had two children and was a stay at home mother for several years. Throughout those years I was sustained emotionally and spiritually by reading. My love of the written word was so great that I thought how terrible it must be for someone not to be able to read. After hearing about adult literacy work and seeing for myself in a social service position that education is key in helping people out of poverty, I decided to answer an ad in the paper that was looking for literacy volunteers. I fell in love with the people I was working with as a tutor, and I was a natural in helping people with dyslexia learn phonetic rules. The volunteer job became a paid position, but all things change and end, don't they? After moving to Pennsylvania about seven years ago, I became a GED and literacy (ABE) teacher, a job that I held for over five years. The government is funding these types of jobs less and less (and they are still needed greatly!), so last year I lost my job due to budget cuts. I'm back to the drawing board and back to volunteering in a literacy center, but wondering if there isn't something more out there that I should/could be doing.

[Barbara]

As I prepare to retire from the workforce sometime in the next twelve months, I regret having listened to and and followed the material world's "messages" and "signs". In retrospect they have been loud, overpowering, deceitful, and ultimately empty. At this stage of my life, my interior callings are still patiently awaiting my full attention - insistent but gentle. I only hope I have the time and energy to follow them soon and that the promise and joy can still be realized.

[kay graham]

Barbara, I retired 9 years ago . Maybe I should revise that and say I started to do what I really loved doing, selling books,........I quit my main job ,teaching. The promise and joy will be realized, the energy just comes with giving attention to your inner callings. Start now. I made a place in my house,before I retired,to put things that were symbolic of what I was going to do after retirement. It seemed to help that transition. I called it my retirement hope chest,but it was out in plain sight. I have done them all plus more. It just keeps getting better and better.