tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6396868054996366316.post8962318452365957097..comments2023-08-16T09:17:58.699-04:00Comments on Life, God, and Other Mysteries: FlourishingMary Vanden Berghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03091378540728827194noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6396868054996366316.post-55618369666353895812017-04-24T23:42:20.985-04:002017-04-24T23:42:20.985-04:00Thank you for this post. One thing that frustrate...Thank you for this post. One thing that frustrated me at Calvin College was the huge emphasis on vocation and Frederick Buechner's quote about where your deep happiness meets the world's greatest need. As you said, on the surface, there is nothing wrong with thinking about vocation, nor that quote in line with vocation. <br /><br />But the simple reality is that the vast majority, not only of Americans, but people all over the world, do not get to choose their jobs. They do what their parents did. They are subsistence farmers. Today there is an incredible craze of NGO work helping both men and women to become business people. The reality is that the men and women, such as in Africa, are craving such jobs to have their own businesses. Do those businesses make them happy? Not in the least, many of them hate such jobs. But they do it because it makes it more possible to take care of their families. They don't feel any special "calling" to business.<br /><br />Work is work. It's not easy. It's a gift from God and part of what it means to be human, but it has also been cursed, which means it's hard. It will continue to be hard until Jesus comes back. Many of us will not get to choose the jobs we do, many of us will not particularly "enjoy" them, but we will still do them for God's glory. We will work hard, work honestly, care for our colleagues, work with a good attitude, and therefore work to God's glory. Just as Paul tells slaves to do their work as unto Christ. I'm sure the slaves didn't enjoy their work, but they could work for God's glory.<br /><br />We need to ramp down on some of our vocation talk, so that we don't make unrealistic expectations for people. Then we will end up making a lot of people unhappy in their jobs because they won't fit their expectations. Part of the issue is you have thousands of Calvin college students try to get work with non-profits and NGO's and development because they all want to change the world, and hit the deepest needs, and feel really fulfilled in their work. The reality is that very few of us can have jobs like that, and we need Christians to do manual work, work in offices, in factories, as engineers, scientists, etc. To get the work done that needs to be done, but to do it for God's glory, even if it is not really stimulating. But now lots of graduates can't find jobs, because they are all competing for the non-profit type jobs.Anthonyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07500317366078942484noreply@blogger.com