An important element to our work life is connecting with the Calling aspect of our work life. Often Calling is misunderstood as being only for spiritual related careers as a person is Called to be a minister or missionary. I view Calling as that which makes our work meaningful. The areas of our work that brings the inner satisfaction as we look back upon a workday knowing we made a difference. A website that I enjoy reading and listening to the podcasts concerning the topic of life/work calling is www.thehighcalling.org .
The website presents stories and articles about the importance of our work. We spend a significant portion of our lives doing this thing called work. From the stories on the website I have found a deeper appreciation in how to look at my work settings from a Callings angle. It helps in exploring new ways to create meaning in the workplace.
I want to share one of the stories presented on the website by Howard Butt Jr. about an elevator operator, Bruce Renfroe, in New York City. The links to the highcalling video and a more in-depth Guideposts article about the man can be found below after the reflection.
Mr. Renfroe was a cleaner in the Metro system and enjoyed his work but after a stroke he could not return to his work. He was then transferred to be an elevator operator. He shared how he found the job very boring and noticed people in the elevator never spoke. This made me think of my years of living in Chicago. Elevators were always a place where everyone just faced forward with stoic faces and never made a sound. Mr. Renfroe wondered if he could make a difference to these robotic group of emotionless people. He started off by making a joke one day and noticed a passenger laughed. He then put up a poster, and brought in a houseplant. Then he added a small radio playing jazz music and had his Bible on a small table. Those changes in the atmosphere of the elevator started the people talking and enjoying the short ride down to the metro train stop. Some mornings a rider would ask him to read a Bible verse to inspire their workday. Other days a jazz song would be requested. At that point he realized he was enjoying his job again. What started out as ways to perk up his riders’ day was a boost to bringing meaning to what started as a boring job for him. This story touched me as I remember some of the Chicago buildings that would have an elevator operator. It always made the ride better to have a cheerful worker in the elevator. It also shows how Calling can be added into any job.
The story made me think of my work and what aspects of it relate to calling. Where am I making a difference in the world and lives around me? The answer to that question is where we move beyond the mundane of everyday work and move higher up into the calling of our work. In the living more than OK life, work is an area where we need to see how we can spiral up to abundant life even in our job, not just marking time until Friday. I am amazed how the Guideposts article ends about Mr. Renfroe. “Some people say, ‘Thank God it’s Friday because they can’t wait to start their weekend.’ Bruce said, ‘Me? I say Thank God for Monday because that’s the day I go back to work.’”
Reflection: In what ways can you add a sense of calling into your work world? What would our work places be like if we had Mr. Renfroe’s attitude about Monday mornings?
http://www.hudsonsclass.com/Documents/Freshman/Renfroe.pdf article copied from Guideposts
video http://www.thehighcalling.org/video/work/elevator-operator#.Uj-X4oaTidQ
Showing posts with label calling. Show all posts
Showing posts with label calling. Show all posts
Tuesday, September 24, 2013
Thursday, May 9, 2013
Career Calling As Being Or Doing?
This is the time of year for graduations from high schools, colleges and universities. It is a time of year when students are moving from their education into looking for jobs and their first career area. Many of them go forward with passion and dreams desiring to move into their calling for their life that they have studied so hard for, be it in the area of healthcare, education, business or some other career area. Many times the lofty dreams run smack dab into the harsh realities of difficulties in the workplace. Or as we see now simply difficult economic times trying to find a job. I was reminded afresh of this time period as we recently watched the movie, This Is Our Time.
The movie looks at the lives of 5 young Christian university graduates full of excitement as to how they plan to shake up the world with their career dreams and their education. The story continues to show instead of seeing their dreams come true shows them running in to difficulties and tragedies of their own making and happenstance occurrences. Knowing this was a Christian movie I was afraid it would be a syrupy and sappy story of showing how everything magically falls into place in life for Christians. This in reality rarely happens. Instead the story delves into a real life possible tragedy that forces the main characters to battle with doubt of where God is at in times of trouble. It also looks at the complexities of their career lives and the subject of having a calling in one’s life.
The mentor for the group of students is a former Professor of theirs who on the subject of calling brings up the idea that following a calling is not just what you are doing in your job, but a matter of being. Who are you in your core values and inner being? With careers, when the subject of calling is discussed it often is looked at from the standpoint of following a particular career path. It is the job that you are “doing”. The Professor was trying to have them look at the inward view of who they were in their core values as a major part of calling. From their standpoints of being Christians, the professor was trying to get across to them whether they were doing sandwich making or missions work in India, were they building up the values of Christ internally in their hearts and minds?
Personally for me I see calling as both doing and being. The doing reminds me the Apostle Paul’s statement in Colossians 3:23 “And whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men”. All that we do; and of course our work is a doing, we should do with passion as serving God not the boss or supervisor. Then the being side of calling relates in my thinking to another writing of the Apostle Paul in Romans 12:1 & 2 “Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.” This moves beyond mere doing as Paul speaks of the transforming of the mindset that affects our core values internally.
The movie, This Is Our Time, has a thoughtful story line that challenges how we use our time on this journey here on earth. It also reminded me to think through how I am following His calling in my personal and work life – the doing and being of life.
Reflection: What comes to mind as you think of life calling? Do you think it is more doing or being?
The movie looks at the lives of 5 young Christian university graduates full of excitement as to how they plan to shake up the world with their career dreams and their education. The story continues to show instead of seeing their dreams come true shows them running in to difficulties and tragedies of their own making and happenstance occurrences. Knowing this was a Christian movie I was afraid it would be a syrupy and sappy story of showing how everything magically falls into place in life for Christians. This in reality rarely happens. Instead the story delves into a real life possible tragedy that forces the main characters to battle with doubt of where God is at in times of trouble. It also looks at the complexities of their career lives and the subject of having a calling in one’s life.
The mentor for the group of students is a former Professor of theirs who on the subject of calling brings up the idea that following a calling is not just what you are doing in your job, but a matter of being. Who are you in your core values and inner being? With careers, when the subject of calling is discussed it often is looked at from the standpoint of following a particular career path. It is the job that you are “doing”. The Professor was trying to have them look at the inward view of who they were in their core values as a major part of calling. From their standpoints of being Christians, the professor was trying to get across to them whether they were doing sandwich making or missions work in India, were they building up the values of Christ internally in their hearts and minds?
Personally for me I see calling as both doing and being. The doing reminds me the Apostle Paul’s statement in Colossians 3:23 “And whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men”. All that we do; and of course our work is a doing, we should do with passion as serving God not the boss or supervisor. Then the being side of calling relates in my thinking to another writing of the Apostle Paul in Romans 12:1 & 2 “Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.” This moves beyond mere doing as Paul speaks of the transforming of the mindset that affects our core values internally.
The movie, This Is Our Time, has a thoughtful story line that challenges how we use our time on this journey here on earth. It also reminded me to think through how I am following His calling in my personal and work life – the doing and being of life.
Reflection: What comes to mind as you think of life calling? Do you think it is more doing or being?
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