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Life Calling: Reflections from the Middle

If you are like me and live life in the middle (e.g., mid-life, mid-career), you may find it challenging to slow down and reflect. When you were younger, you spent hours dreaming of what you wanted to be. When you are older, you will spend hours reminiscing about what you have done. In the middle, you are so busy doing life that you rarely reflect on what you do and why.

So, what do you do? Why?

Chances are, reflecting on your why will shed light on your life calling and bring a renewed sense of purpose to your work and relationships. The intentional reflection may inspire you to realign your commitments and decisions to better honor your values, strengths, and interests. The life purpose that you define may empower you to reframe situations and reprioritize responsibilities. In other words, it is entirely worthwhile to identify your why!

How does your why shape your choices?

People may not ask about it, and we may not think about it, but life calling is so much greater than our job title or career. Life calling is a higher purpose. It encompasses our values, strengths, interests, experiences, and more. If you were only thinking about your profession when you answered the previous prompts, I encourage you to revisit them with a broader, more comprehensive idea of life calling.

How might you broaden your definition of life calling?

I believe that my life calling, in short, is to spark connections. Sure, I live out my calling at work. But I also live it out in the community, at church, and at home. For example, when I am conversing with my three-year-old daughter, I live out my life calling – spark connections – by helping her learn associations between words and pictures, relationships between people and events. I know that I am living out my calling when I help her make connections because I feel confident and inspired. I experience a state of flow, or what scholars describe as being so immersed in an activity that you lose all sense of time.

In what activities do you experience flow? How do those activities reveal your uniqueness? What do these reflections contribute to your understanding of your life calling?

For all who find themselves in the middle, be encouraged. Your life calling is more significant than your childhood dreams, your career, and your education. Here are three actions that have helped me discover and abide by my life calling:

  1. Rest in the truth that God created you for a purpose. (Ephesians 2:10)
  2. Take time to pray, reflect, and listen to God about His call on your life. (Jeremiah 33:3)
  3. Live out your purpose with great confidence, faith, and hope in who you are and who He has called you to be. (Philippians 1:6)

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