putting off starting for “someday,” which never comes. This
is common, and we tend to excuse our lack of action, even
rationalizing it to each other.
Most people find themselves in careers that do anything
but inspire them, and this can lead to complacency. Why
would I take such a risk? My friends and family members
aren’t. Doing so would make me weird, maybe even alienate
me from those who love me. So they don’t ever find the
time, and sadly they “die with their song still in them,” as
Oliver Wendell Holmes once wrote.^7
Another way to miss your calling is to treat it as an event
instead of a lifestyle. Remember: your vocation is more of a
magnum opus than a single masterpiece. It’s an entire body
of work, not a single piece. You will spend your life
creating it, and if you stop too soon or don’t see your entire
life as a means of accomplishing that task, you could miss it.
Recently over lunch while we were discussing the topic
of calling and purpose, a friend said, “Maybe my purpose in
life was to simply raise my daughters, and they’re going to
go do something great. Maybe that’s all I was meant to do,
and my purpose is now fulfilled. And everything else is just
gravy. I would be okay with that.”
He’s onto something in that he sees his purpose as
something that is bigger than him, a task he was born to
accomplish that will send ripples into eternity. But your
calling is not a single event in your life; it’s the whole body
of work you make—including your job, your relationships,
and the legacy you leave behind. If you see it as something