From “The Language of the Soul: Meeting God in the Longings of Our Hearts” by Jeff Crosby
“We spend our days doing what we do for all kinds of reasons. It is the work we have been given to do or what we have found to do. Some of us do work that seems to have found us in some way, for better or worse,” Robert Benson writes in his wise book Between the Dreaming and the Coming True. “A fair number of us do things that we love to do, whatever that might mean to us, but if you ask very many people if that is so for them, not as many of them will say yes as you might have thought or hoped.”
When we find ourselves at crossroads, wondering about the sense of longing we have for greater meaning in our vocations and our occupations, the four points of our compass help us reexamine and assess where we are:
- Have our values changed?
- Do we need to reconsider our motivations for how we are spending our days?
- What is our support team (our mentors, spiritual friends) telling us?
- Are these aspects of our life that are “divided” (see chapter 2) and in need or reintegration?
Parker Palmer, whose seminal work Let Your Life Speak formed my understanding of work and calling, has written, “Vocation at its deepest level is, ‘This is something I can’t not do, for reasons I am unable to explain to anyone else and don’t fully understand myself but that are nonetheless compelling.’” It is when we are in that bedrock place that we are most likely to recognize the meaning in what we are doing, how we are spending our days, and why.