Buechner's Definition of Vocation

In 1973, Frederick Buechner published a slender little book entitled, Wishful Thinking: A Theological ABC. In this book Buechner attempts to define just over 150 theological and Biblical words from Abraham to Zaccheus. Most of the definitions are witty and insightful as Buechner is not only an ordained Presbyterian minister but his true vocation is that of a novelist. Which brings me to the point of this reflection, defining one’s true vocation in life. An important goal for me throughout the past seven weeks of our ReConnecting study was that maybe a few people might find themselves getting connected or perhaps reconnected to their “true vocation”. Buechner’s book offers a definition of vocation that has become a standard understanding of what it means to respond to a life’s calling. There has not been a significant book written about vocation in the last thirty years that has not referred to Frederick Buechner’s definition. Here it is:

VOCATION. It comes from the Latin vocare, to call, and means the work a person is called to by God.
There are all different kinds of voices calling you to all different kinds of work, and the problem is to find out which is the voice of God rather than of Society, say, or the Superego, or Self-Interest.
By and large a good rule for finding out is this. The kind of work God usually calls you to is the kind of work (a) that you need most to do and (b) that the world most needs to have done. If you really get a kick out of your work, you’ve presumably met requirement (a), but if your work is writing TV deodorant commercials, the chances are you’ve missed requirement (b). On the other hand, if your work is being a doctor in a leper colony, you have probably met requirement (b), but if most of the time you’re bored and depressed by it, the chances are you have not only bypassed (a) but probably aren’t helping your patients much either.
Neither the hair shirt not the soft berth will do. The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet.

I believe we are all called of God to that place beyond what we do for a paycheck. I pray that you have found that place where God is calling you or you are on the way to its discovery.