I’m sure you, like me, have heard many times and in many different ways how we need to “shine”. We hear often about how we need to let our talents shine, or let our light so shine before men, etc. etc.
But before you can start pouring out light, you have to be plugged into the source were created for.
Think of each of us as lighting implements, like candles, lightbulbs, oil lamps, etc. You won’t give out the light you were created to by being plugged into the wrong power source; even if that thing is the most common thing out there that makes many other people shine. If you screw a candle into a lightbulb socket, how much light is it going to give off? What about if you light a lightbulb with a match; is it going to burn for hours? Or what about pouring oil all over a light bulb; is it going to suddenly light up and use that fuel like an oil lamp?
Each of those elements is absolutely used to light up something. But connected to the wrong one, they might let off a spark, and possibly even keep burning for a little while, but ultimately they’ll go out. And probably be ruined for giving light in the future.
Similarly, if you’re not in tune with what YOU specifically were called to do, with the gifts and talents and personality and passions God gave you, you will not only not be giving off the light He intended you to, but you’ll also probably feel tired, rundown, frustrated, stuck. Like wondering aimlessly because you don’t know where you’re supposed to go.
God’s calling for you will never feel pointless; and even if it feels overwhelming or too big for you at times, it will keep lighting a fire in your soul that you can’t ignore or let go; it’ll give you chills and make your heart bold, and probably scare you and scare you into action at the same time. As Mark Batterson puts it in his fantastic book, ‘Chase The Lion’:
‘If your dream doesn’t scare you, it’s too small.’
Now don’t let that overwhelm you. God-given dreams are POWERFUL, beautiful, life-giving things. Mark Batterson explains in another book of his, ‘Wild Goose Chase’:
‘Most of us will have no idea where we are going most of the time. And I know that is unsettling. But circumstantial uncertainty also goes by another name: adventure.’
And we all crave adventure in some way in our lives. Adventure is a good thing, even when it moves us out of our comfort zones and expands our courage.
Just think what that “nasty, uncomfortable” adventure Bilbo Baggins had to go on in ‘The Hobbit’ did for him. There were an enormous amount of terrible and dangerous moments throughout; the little Hobbit was right about that, and adventures do absolutely “make you late for dinner”. (!) But through the whole ordeal, our dear, very timid, somewhat proud, really fearful Hobbit becomes a heartfelt friend, a merciful, cleaver, and discerning little warrior, and an inspiringly courageous hero. He’s lost only a large portion of his selfishness and fear by embarking on his dangerous quest, and gained so very much more of all he was created to be. (If only he’d continued to grow in that direction, and not held on to that Ring...)
We are MADE to do great things and live great moments God has planned for each of us. If we don’t, we grow fearful and selfish, and feel hopeless and aimless.
You HAVE to seek what you, and you alone, are made to bring to life. What you are created to shine out with. But that comes with it’s own dangers.
John Fornof put it this way:
“We have to give our dreams to God. Sometimes he won’t give them back [in the same way we originally had them]. But if he does, they will come back with all the fleshly-ness [selfish human-ness] ripped out of them.”
Yikes. And wow. Now THOSE are the kinds of dreams —not the ones we come up with for ourselves, but the ones God plants deep inside us— that really DO change the world, and don’t just ride a minute of fame and then fade away.
Now, for that finding the right source to fuel your unique God-given dream; your calling.
So your calling is not the same as the dreams you have of the fun things you want to do or accomplish in your life. Dreams and accomplishments and bucket list goals may play into your calling, just like your skills, gifts, things that get you up the morning and inspire you, and things that frustrate you and break your heart, will all play into your calling, but are not your calling in and of themselves.
You’ll really be discovering what your calling is with more and more clarity for all of your life.
Think of it like a mountain range far away. When you first see the range, it looks like one solid wall of mountains, all clumped together and connected. As you get a little closer, you realize that there are multiple colors and several layers, and some shorter, greener cliff heights start appearing in front of the mountains. Closer, and you realize that those are not even the first mountains or hills; there are more green slopes and some mountains before and behind those. As you get among the first rolling green hills, you realize that there’s not one set of mountains back behind the next green heights; there’s actually three or maybe five different levels of mountains, and the farthest back ones have snow on top. And as you get over the green slopes, you can now see rivers and lakes and forests and misty places, and layers upon layers of mountains behind the ones you first saw, some bigger, some smaller than any of the ones you've first spotted long ago.
Your calling goes on and on like that; you realize that there’s more to it and more playing into it, and more beautiful details and adventures involved than you ever could’ve first imagined from a long way off.
Think of Shasta in 'The Horse and His Boy', seeing the tiny mountains far, far away across the expanse of the desert. Then later, on the other side, he sees how many more there are, and later in among the foothills, still more, then more from high up on the passes, and on and on... And not long before, he had only ever seen or imagined the fishy-smelling edge of the sea, and the old fisherman's hut. Rather 'further up and further in', really.
Ultimately, your calling is this:
to bring out and exemplify in many, many ways again and again, better and clearer and more beautifully, an aspect or two of God’s character, and how He calls us to Himself.
Your calling is not a job, though it will probably have many jobs connected to it. If your call is limited to a job or career, what would happen if you could no longer do that job? Does that mean you no longer have a calling? Absolutely not. Your call is something else, something MUCH larger, and it may come out through many careers and different forms throughout your life.
Your calling is also not a single accomplishment or event God placed in your heart and you’ve held onto, or one you come up with for yourself. Though those may very well play into your calling too.
Overall, the point for everything on earth is for man to know God. That’s why He created the earth, created man, bothered to go through all the trouble to give us a free will so we can love Him for ourselves, and then bother to redeem us when we misused our free will, and on and on it goes. Everything made is so that we would know our God. (Which speaks volumes about how much He loves us!) And that includes our callings. We are given them so that we will better know Him, and then help others better know that bit about Him. It’s the point of the universe. And since He’s infinite, and our finite selves can never fully grasp even half of His whole Self, there’s an unending well of His beauty and majesty to draw and learn from.
If you had asked me what my calling was 15 years ago, or 10, or 5, or even 3, my answer would be always growing and becoming clearer.
As of right now, I’m understanding that one of my calls is to encourage others to find theirs. And I have another one, that’s frequently linked: to tell stories that bring people to wonder, and inspire courage in them. And one or all of those come out, or are encouraged in me, again and again in all my passions and jobs in different ways and vocations; through dance, through teaching, through film, through writing, through time with friends...
I want to challenge you (and always myself as well) to look at “what you want to do with your life” in light of this different view of a calling. Not what job or college degree or accomplishment you want to go for. But what is it about God that you are drawn to and moved by, that He has trusted you to communicate?
Almost every time, that kind of perspective will help you discern what God has for each next moment of your life. Which takes an enormous burden off of trying to “figure out” God’s will in other ways.
Hunt down your calling now. Every day. During all your activities. Your heart and soul will begin to find so much joy and passion and courage to move ahead. Ask God specifically in prayer; and try asking Him out loud when you’re out where you don’t have to worry about anyone hearing you. And look at what inspires you.
Notice what kind of stories move you. Preferably by reading loads and loads of books, or listening to books on tape whenever you can. Yes, movies are wonderful, and as a filmmaker, I love movies as much as any of you. Maybe more in some ways. But with movies we can often get caught up on things besides the story. So read a lot, whether to yourself, or having someone read to you, listening to audiobooks, audio dramas, etc.
But notice what stories, what characters, and what themes move you most. What your heart grabs on to. Those are very likely linked to your calling.
Also read books like ‘Chase the Lion’, and ‘Wild Goose Chase’, and ‘Death By Living’. Books that help you see the world as it is; brighter, deeper, fuller and more beautiful in detail than you ever realized, and help you think about life in a different way.
As you plug in to what calling or “power source” you are made for, all your lights really start to turn on. Both inside and out.
There’s SO much I want to try to express and encourage you with as callings go. But...there’s so much...! So right now, remember that:
“Jesus didn’t come to just make us safe. He came to make us dangerous.” —Mark Batterson
and
‘Train [your children]. Give them sharp eyes and bellies full of laughter. Make them dangerous. Make them yeast, and when they’ve grown, they will pollute the shadows.’ —N.D. Wilson
Your calling will absolutely do those things.
Live boldly.
Be dangerous.
Go after what you are called to, and not just a job, a career, or a degree.
And take the adventure.
(Quotes belong to their authors. Pictures and thoughts are my own. Please do not share without permission.)
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