The Changing Seasons of Callings

What season is it?

I know, the calendar just flipped to October and the leaves are starting to turn those lovely shades of gold, orange, and red, so the easy answer is “autumn.”

But let me ask that differently.

What season is it for you?  What season are you in related to your callings?

Last week, I shared with you a model for thinking about three primary callings in our lives:  the call of faith, the call of relationship, and the call of work.  I heard from a few of you that it really resonated with your life experience.  So let’s take it a step further…

“To everything there is a season”

Those three primary callings in our lives are not typically fixed or steady over our whole lifetimes.  They are dynamic, and they move with the ebbs and flows of our life circumstances.  In short, we experience seasons in each of those callings.

For instance, if I asked what season you’re in related to the call of faith, how would you answer? 

There’s no right or wrong answer; there’s only your answer.  And your answer can mean whatever you want it to mean. 

You and I might both say “summer.”  But you might choose summer because you’re thinking about the ease of summer and a sense of relaxing and settling into the warmth of God’s love.  I might choose summer because things feel dry and parched spiritually and I’m feeling scorched in life. 

For some, spring means new life and freshness.  For others, spring could mean rain, mud, and a longing for real warmth that is long delayed.  Autumn could evoke glory in the explosion of colors, or fear from increasing darkness.  Winter could mean death or dormancy, or it could evoke thoughts of crisp, startlingly bright landscapes and clarity like a rush of fresh, cold air. 

These are just a few examples of different ways to interpret different seasons.  I realize that the climate you’re used to will really impact how you refer to each season!  Remember that there’s no limit or boundary, and no right or wrong, to how you might describe the seasons of your heart. 

No matter what season you choose, what’s important is what that means to you (aka why you chose it), and what – if anything – that means for your life.

Seasons in each calling

Here’s where the model gets interesting.  At any given time, we are likely in very different seasons in each of our callings.  Maybe your call of faith is in summer, your call of relationship is in autumn, and your call of work is in spring.  Perhaps you’re experiencing a season of growth and change in one calling, a season of stability and peace in another, and a season of waiting and anticipation in another. 

Naming those realities can help us sort out and normalize some of our thoughts and emotions, which might vary widely as we consider the fullness of our lives.  And if there’s one calling that is particularly painful or challenging, it can be helpful to realize that there are other parts of your life that are good, healthy, or stable. 

Being able to name what season I’m in for each calling also helps me discern how I might next want to grow.  For instance, if I determine that I’m feeling unstable or unfulfilled in the call of relationships, then I’ll want to dig deeper and get curious about what seems to at the heart of that ache.  Is it a relationship that needs tending and growth?  Is it a type of relationship that is missing?  Is there a relationship that needs to be uprooted or pruned in my life? 

Once I narrow down my focus to an area within that calling that is asking for attention, I can begin to consider whether I’m ready to grow, change or take action in that area, and if so, I can get creative about how to do that. To me, that’s part of what it means to respond to a calling.

When the snow globe of life gets shaken

It's also possible that a major life event can impact all three callings at the same time.  When I lost my job after working in church ministry for over 20 years, it impacted all three callings.  I experienced loss in the call of work for sure, but since I had formed so many significant relationships with colleagues (co-workers in the diocese, those we served in parishes, a network of colleagues around the country), my “circle” representing the call of relationship certainly felt like it shrunk. 

Because my “work” had been so closely aligned with the call of faith, I also experienced disruption in that calling as well.  (More on that next week!) 

The times in our lives when all three callings get shaken up like a snow globe can certainly be challenging, to say the least.  But for me, having this model and language about the aspects of change (and often, loss) helps me to untangle the knots of emotions I experience and begin to take steps into a new response to each calling. 

Those “snow globe” moments invite me to reflect more deeply on my past responses to those three callings and look for patterns or common threads that might help provide stability amidst the chaos. 

For instance, in my recent season of massive transition, it helped me to re-define my past response to the call of work.  If I defined my response to that calling narrowly and specifically as “diocesan director of youth and young adult ministry,” then it was easy to feel overwhelmed by the loss and blocked about next steps.  When I re-oriented my thinking to the key question of the call of work, “How am I to share my gifts?” things changed.

As I reflected on my gifts and identified times when I felt that I’d shared them most fruitfully, I began to see themes.  I looked beyond my job title for my true calling in that area, and I could see that the times when I’d felt most alive were when I was accompanying individuals and inspiring groups. 

With a broader sense of how I deeply desired to share my gifts with the world, I then sought out a new path that had a different job title, but was still an authentic response to the call of work in my life. 

What season(s) are you in?

But enough about me!  I’m curious about you!  How is all this landing with you?  I hope the stories of my real-life experience are helpful, but only insofar as they help you to connect these callings and their seasons to your own life.

What season are you in related to the call of faith? 

In the call of relationship, what season are you in? 

What season are you experiencing in the call of work? 

And my follow up question for each of those queries is:  What might that mean for you?

Which calling might be beckoning to you for new or renewed response?

I’d love to hear what insights (or new questions) this stirs up in you!  Feel free to continue the conversation by sending an email or leaving a comment!