How do careers fit into God’s plan? There are
vast numbers of career choices out there: 13,000
different U.S. job categories at last count.
Incredibly, about 90% of the U.S. workforce is
involved in only about 300 of these job types.
In contrast, there are only a handful of
vocations that God offers humanity (i.e. single,
married, priesthood, consecrated life), and He
gives us all the necessary tools to find out
which vocation is right.
The question of career choice becomes secondary
to far more important questions like:
Who am I in relation to God’s plan?
What does He want me to become?
How can I serve Him?
Our lifework choices become a collection of
puzzle pieces that gradually form an image of
who we are. It is our identity in Christ. Even a
few pieces put together correctly give us a
glimpse of the final picture.
The parts of the puzzle include our talents,
skills, interests, training, vocation and
mission/purpose in life. The pieces should fit
together easily and require no special skill for
assembly, just a desire to be faithful and
obedient to the Creator’s master plan. Career
selection becomes integrated with all the other
parts of our life so that we serve God in every
circumstance. We are a witness to Christ in
work, home, school, and society.
Welders, waitresses, lawyers and accountants can
serve Christ in unique ways since they are part
of His Kingdom, and hopefully their identity is
not defined so much by their job, but rather by
the reflection of Christ in their daily
activities. Having a career is not the same as
having a life filled with God’s grace and
goodness in every aspect of what we do.
I visited a Catholic high school that had a room
filled with college catalogs, and a much smaller
section of books on careers. I knew something
was wrong with this picture. It was the emphasis
on "college" as an end in itself. That was
troublesome. It’s like taking a trip without
having a destination. College for the sake of
college can often be an exercise in futility
unless college is the pathway to a particular
occupation. Not all students are inclined or
suited to college anyway. Shouldn’t the main
emphasis be on seeking God’s will, particularly
as a teenager migrates from high school to the
working world? The important issue is seeking
God’s plan and using His gifts wisely in
pursuing a career and other lifework choices.
You now face far more school choices than the
past generation faced even a few decades ago.
Our colleges are filled with certificate
programs and degree programs, electives and
options, majors and minors, and "areas of
concentration." This may translate into a
problem of too many choices.
I have seen a number of high school graduates
that are just drifting, going from job-to-job,
major-to-major, interest-to-interest, without a
clear image of where they are heading. They are
like people in a boat without a paddle, swept
down the river, and unaware of their
destination.
I remember walking up Telegraph Avenue on my
first day of classes at the University of
California at Berkeley. I was already in a state
of culture shock, having come from Fresno,
California (the "raisin capital of the world")
to the very urban community of Berkeley (a.k.a.
Berserkley). I noticed a strange shape coming
towards me, a fellow who was the self-proclaimed
"Answer Man." He was one of the local street
people, hidden inside a huge, wildly painted
cardboard box, big enough for a refrigerator.
Only his feet could be seen. Answer-seekers
needed to drop a quarter in a slot, ask him any
question, and they would immediately receive a
rambling answer that was strange and
interesting, but light years away from reality.
We sometimes want answers quickly and easily
from God, especially about the meaning and
purpose of life. Although His answers often come
gradually, they are at least true and clear.
Discovering God’s Will is often like peeling the
layers of an onion or turning the pages of a
book. The process is gradual. It may take a
lifetime to fully discover God’s purpose for us
as we travel on our spiritual journey.
TRUE NORTH
I like compasses. I’m intrigued by the way
compasses never fail to point north. I have an
old one made in 1917 that does just that –
points north and has done so since it was made
80+ years ago.
Discovering God’s plan is a matter of following
the signs that point us to the truth. Developing
a strong Catholic identity in your life includes
a steady increase in your love of:
1. Jesus
2. The Church
3. Prayer
4. The Sacraments
5. Mary, Joseph and the Saints
6. Scripture
These are signs that direct us properly in our
quest for true north. Like my compass, they
never fail.
If you are concerned about making life choices,
you first need to foster a strong belief that
God has a truly superb plan for you that’s
waiting to be discovered. It’s the only road map
needed because it’s the only true map. After
all, Jesus said He was the way, the
truth, and the life. He did not say
He was a way. He does give us the true
and correct way that we follow to put our life
together.
Imagine going on a long car trip across the
country without a road map. The odds are great
for getting lost or at least side-tracked. We
become subject to the flow and influence of
traffic. Failing to understand God’s plan leaves
our life wide open to the influence of society.
We gravitate towards the world’s measures and
marks of success and take a roller-coaster ride
of ups and downs in a search for happiness and
fulfillment. God’s plan doesn’t work that way.
He unfailingly guides us to a life of true joy
and peace. All we have to do is listen, respond,
and be obedient to His Will.
TRUE JOY
Without knowing God’s plan, we become further
subject to the whims and values of society, like
wealth-building, image-building, or both.
Success is defined in the worldly terms of
money, power and accomplishment, or more subtly,
with measures like net worth, retirement savings
and home equity. The search is for more and more
pleasure and financial security.
Happiness seems like it’s just a purchase away –
we buy things we don’t need, with money we don’t
have, often to impress people we hardly know.
The quest for happiness is a treadmill that
keeps us from a true sense of joy and peace. Our
acquisition of material goods seems to make life
more complex. The more we own, the more worries
we seem to have.
That’s why God’s plan is the best plan. It
contains everything we need for true joy on the
journey to His eternal Kingdom. It is not based
on "feeling fulfilled" in a "rewarding career,"
or having lots of "stuff," but rather on simply
and consistently being faithful to the One who
created us.
Our vocation and mission involves far more than
the limits of career choice. It makes up our
lifework and very existence as human beings, as
a one-of-a-kind, unrepeatable work of love in
partnership with God’s creative powers in
service to the Gospel.
