Reflections on Vocation | Anna Deatherage ‘25
The idea of vocation has always seemed daunting and far away, something idealistic and ethereal, not substantive or concrete. In one sense, I still feel this way- I know vocation is not limited to a job, it’s larger and more complex, encompassing all of what we do and how we live. And yet, I am learning that there are practical, tangible steps to both discern what my vocation is and how to live it out in the everyday.
Through Horizons Fellows this year, and being in the transitory stage of life that is the last year of college, I have found myself in countless conversations talking about what comes next- what does it mean to live well, what are we called to, and how do we honor the Lord through all of this? Big, terrifying questions that seem to be, in some way, shape or form, at every turn- from presentations that I attend, to conversations I jump into among friends, to books I’m reading and sermons I’m hearing. While I often laugh off the questions of what comes next or give a genial, but vague, “We’ll see where I end up,” I can’t help but seriously consider what it is I am called to. Yes, I have interests, and yes, they’re important and meaningful, and I have ideas about how to use them and turn them into a job. But who knows if that will work out, and what do I do if it doesn’t?
What I keep returning to is this idea of “work” in the Bible. God worked before the fall. Period. Full stop. Work is not a consequence or a punishment or lemons to turn into lemonade but rather a way to be like God. It is the word he used to describe how he brought all of creation into existence. What I see in the Genesis story is work as an invitation, it is what he made us for, what he told us to do, and it is good. It makes me see vocation as a way to cultivate, and create, and enjoy, and care for the world, its creatures, and the people that inhabit it. To take them, myself, all of us- to the feet of the Lord, that we might serve him by rearranging and reshaping the world to orient it to his own pattern of work and rest. It’s less daunting to think of vocation in this way- if my plans don’t work out and I end up doing something completely different than I imagined, I can rest in the knowledge that whatever I do is pleasing to God as long as I am practicing love of God and love of neighbor, working to co-create his Kingdom.
It’s good to look at what I enjoy, and what I’m good at, and where these things intersect. And it’s even better to imagine a way in which that cross-section aligns with God’s plan for the world. The comforting reality is that God desires for us to work, he shows us how, and he invites us to partner with him in engaging with the world and cultivating his kingdom.