Often in life, we get frustrated because we aren’t focused on our calling. Instead, we give all our attention to those things that are outside of our calling. For instance, we may give too much mental energy to our jobs. Or, we may give too much time to the television or Internet surfing. And then we wonder why our lives seem hollow. Realize that if you want to find fulfillment, your time is best spent focusing on your calling.
When we focus on our calling, we make sure to do activities each day that are related to that calling. So, if your calling is to care for children, you’ll spend part of each day helping either your own children, or perhaps volunteering with underprivileged children. If your calling is to beautify the earth, you may spend time each day gardening, or volunteering at your local park.
And frankly, you may have more than one calling! I do. For example, first and foremost I am called to be a good mother to my daughter and a good wife to my husband. But I also feel called to be a loyal friend to a few trusted people in my life. And my professional calling is to be a writer.
What is most important is that you devote some of your time and mental energy each day to the things that support your calling. And you need to give less mental energy to those things that are practical activities, like making money, cleaning your house, cooking, etc.
Of course, we all have to do practical activities. We all have to make money to pay bills. And we have to do the household chores that make our lives more civilized and pleasant. But our emotional energies should not be directed toward those practical activities. Our emotional energies and excitement should be directed toward those activities which are our calling.
Below are some ways to ensure that your life is focused on your calling. Follow them, and see how much more fulfilled and happy you can be each day!
Distinguish Your Job from Your Calling
Admittedly, there are a lucky few folks for whom their job is their calling. But for most of us, our jobs are not our calling. Rather, our jobs are a way to make money, and our calling is something very different. That is OK! There is nothing wrong with your job not being your life calling.
For instance, I have a day job which is pleasant enough. But for me, my job is just a way to make money. Nothing more. So, I don’t invest a lot of emotional energy in it. The purpose of my job is purely to make money to pay bills.
Of course, as a matter of self-respect, I work hard and do my best at my job. But I don’t identify myself with my job or my title. My job isn’t who I am. And frankly, I would hope that someday in my obituary, my job simply will be a small footnote compared to the other things that I have done with my life.
So, if your job is not your calling, then keep your work life in perspective. Realize that it is just a way to make money, and devote your real mental energy each day to your life’s calling.
Allot Time Each Day to Your Calling
Your calling shouldn’t be something that you do if you happen to have some free time. If you approach it that way, you’ll rarely spend time doing what matters most to you. And the years will pass, and you’ll wonder why you feel so unfulfilled.
Instead, your calling should be something that is a scheduled part of each day. For example, for many years, I treated writing as something that I would do when everything else got done. So, when I had completed my job responsibilities and all my parenting and household tasks, only then did I write. And I felt like something in my life was missing.
It was only when I made my calling to write a daily priority that my life began to flow. Each day suddenly felt filled with purpose because part of my day was being spent doing the thing that I felt called to do – write.
What I’ve found is that when I devote part of each day to my calling, I don’t feel like the day has been wasted simply meeting the needs of others. Instead, I’ve respected myself enough to allot part of my day to what fuels me.
So, whatever your calling is, be sure to devote some time each day to it. When you focus part of each day on your calling, you will feel fulfilled. You’ll feel like your time has been given to something that has meaning to you.
Treat Your Calling as Valuable
We live in a world in which we tend to value everything monetarily. So, people make the mistake of thinking that valuable activities are only those that make money. That is a limited way of looking at life.
Now, of course, making money is important. It pays our bills, and gives us important things like food, clothing and shelter. And if we make a little bit of extra money, it can give us things like dinners at restaurants and the ability to travel.
But money can’t fulfill us. We are only fulfilled when we do those things that are meaningful to us. And that occurs when we are doing activities in support of our calling.
So, treat your calling as valuable. For example, one of my callings is to be a parent. These days, my daughter is at college, and I don’t have 24/7 access to her like I used to. Well, today, during lunchtime, to my great delight, she called to chat.
Realize that I didn’t earn any money from that call. No one was paying me to talk to my child. But was that phone conversation valuable to me? It most certainly was. That is because part of my calling in life is to be a mother, and it felt very good to spend part of my day fulfilling that calling.
So, know that your calling has value. Now, if someone pays you to do your calling, that is wonderful! But if your calling is to care for abused animals, or to teach Sunday School, you won’t be paid for your efforts. But you will feel fulfilled by the activity.
This week, take some time to consider which are your practical activities in life, and which are the activities that support your life calling. Do a good job in all things, but make your calling a priority. Give it your time and mental energy. When you do so, you will feel so much more fulfilled and happy. (To read about finding happiness by loving others, click here.)
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