Many Callings

There are a lot of inspiring stories available to us of people who have given their lives to a cause or to a work or to a calling. We celebrate their sacrifices and we admire their accomplishments. These stories can give us courage to get up and do something. They can show us how to live purposefully.

But sometimes, they can also make us feel like a failure. It has always been easy to enter the comparison game, but the world of social media has certainly held up a standard of excellence that too few of us feel like we are able to reach.
Everyone’s story is different, and I do not claim to know how those who have had great successes and achievements live their lives. What I do know is that a dedication to a single great end is not the calling of all lives. I, for one, have sensed that God’s calling on my life is not a single calling, but a multitude of callings. I am called to be engaged and purposeful, as a follower of Christ, in being a husband, a father, a son, a brother, a contributor to the material welfare of our family, a friend, a thoughtful and effective teacher, an effective administrator, and a writer that encourages and challenges other people. For me, I sense that God has called me to pursue faithfulness in all of these areas. Often this leaves me torn and with too many things that I wish I could do and accomplish. Some might say that I am still not purposeful enough. Perhaps they are right. But I have not been given leave by God to abandon any of these callings. And so I keep at it, with the recognition that God can turn the meagerest resources into beautiful things.
I write this in part to encourage myself, but also to encourage someone who might read this. Because if you are working to carry out your multiple callings as an act of worship you are not a failure. Sometimes success just means getting up and doing it just one more day. You might not get any awards, but maybe you’ll hear the whisper of Someone saying, “Well done.”

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