Finding your Life’s Work: Jobs and Careers vs. Vocation

Every child has heard this question asked of them almost as soon as they can talk.  “What do you want to be when you grow up?” and once they say something like policeman, teacher or fireman, especially in Kenya, you can see the parents disappointment before the next question pops up.  “You don’t want to be a Doctor or a Lawyer?” Children are molded to specific, “money making” careers instead of what they really were created to do.

I have a friend whose father was so keen on her becoming a lawyer, that when it was time to go to university he refused to pay for her education at all, if it was not law.  So like a good girl she went to an expensive UK law school.  Graduated and came back to Kenya to study at the Kenya School of Law for one year so she could be board certified and once she graduated from that, she took her degrees and accolades to her father, handed them over to him and went back to the UK.  She now has a day job as a receptionist as she follows her heart’s desire building websites for people who need them.  As soon as her IT career takes off she will quit her receptionist job and work at her vocation.

So what is a vocation?  This is your calling. It is that thing that calls to you. The work you do because it brings inner satisfaction and utilizes your talents and gifts.  The monetary rewards of a vocation are great and you need them, but this is the kind of work that you do not for the money but for the pleasure of it.  A vocation is what you were created to do.  Once you locate your vocation you are truly happy and satisfied with your work life.

To locate your calling, you need to look into those things that you enjoy doing.  Do you love cooking?  Cleaning?  Managing businesses?  At what work do you find that you best express yourself? What work utilizes your talents and natural giftings so well that it doesn’t feel like work?  Start walking in that direction and exploring how you can make money doing that.  Following your vocation is the path to true fulfillment and riches as well.  A job and a career have nothing on vocation.  If you want to know the difference between the three, read the article titled “Job, Career, Vocation… what’s the difference?”