Opinion: What are you called to do in your life?

Day after day, month after month and year after year, so many people wake up and prepare themselves to go to work. They prepare themselves to spend eight hours or so on a job they despise. This is a reality that people refuse to express freely. Few people would actually talk about the fact that they really don't like their current place of employment. Whenever this type of situation exists, the recipients of the services they provide or the product they produce is marred. Too many people get trapped in the vicious circle of having to work to pay the bills and care for a family. I applaud the people who go out on a limb to follow their calling.

Following the calling is not all that difficult. Identifying one's calling is the most difficult part. Why is it so hard for us to identify and follow our true calling? Some of the answers are not new discoveries at all. In fact, we struggle with them each day of our lives. Let's talk about a few of them.

- We allow others to talk us out of following our true calling.

- We are afraid of failure.

- We lack the necessary resources.

- The calling is not the norm.

- We end up regretting not pursuing our calling.

Identifying your true calling isn't all that difficult. Let's begin with a few questions:

1) What are you drawn to the most, or what seems to keep showing up in your life?

2) What do you really enjoy doing, or where do you feel most comfortable?

3) What is it that you have really wanted to do since childhood?

First and foremost, it is easier to follow your calling and aspirations when you can block out the negatives early. As a child, I enjoyed assembling model cars. During my high school years, I began repairing, painting and restoring cars. In college, I majored in Industrial Technology with a concentration in Manufacturing Engineering. I used myself as an example because I was drawn to assembling things. That was where I felt most comfortable, and it was something I wanted since childhood. I ended up working at an electrical utility designing electrical systems, energy-efficient homes, etc. However, I never lost my calling because I opened an auto body shop and operated it for several years.

Stop allowing nearsighted people to destroy your true calling. It is not up to them to see your calling. Why are you so afraid to fail? We learn more from failing than we do from succeeding. When we fail, we try harder, we improve the process, and we answer more what-if's to be ready for the inevitable. Every success story has a meager beginning! If it was so easy, everybody would be doing it. You, however, were chosen to carry out a certain task. We all have dreams that are realized by accepting our calling and perfecting it. Oftentimes, you may be the only one in your circle to be drawn to do something unique. Can you imagine what the world would be like if we all did basically the same things? You are not normal, so why succumb to the norm when you have a burning calling that's different? A lot of people followed Jesus, but he only called a dozen to be a part of his evangelistic team.

Matthew 10:1. And when he had called unto him his 12 disciples, he gave them power against unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all manner of sickness and all manner of disease.

It is very important to get this key part of the disciples' calling. They did not receive the power to cast out demons and heal the sick until after they accepted their calling.

The moral of the entire article is this: We really find out how to perform our calling when we pursue it with a passion. The most painful thing a person has to endure is regretting to follow his or her passion/calling later in life.

Sam Livingston is pastor of Antioch Missionary Baptist Church in Manning.