Job, Career, or Something More

I’ve been thinking a lot about my line of work lately.  I love what I do.  I love everything about it.  I look at it as more than a job.  For me, a job is something that you go to every day and it doesn’t matter whether you enjoy it or not.

There are times that I have had to pick up a second job.  It’s been just that: a job.  Something to do to bring in more income and, like it or not, I would go every day I was scheduled because I have that kind of work ethic.  However, I never tried to “climb that ladder'” and was content to do just what the job asked of me…nothing more and nothing less.

I’m sure there are many of you out there that can relate.

I used to think of what I do as a career.  Something that I have trained to do.  It’s more than a job.  It’s a place where I can display my talents and use my knowledge and skills in a very particular way.  A career should be something that a person enjoys, however at times it can feel like a job.  At those times, you reevaluate and determine how you can make it better and how you can change the career or parts of the industry in which you work.

Lately, however, I have been thinking more about what I have done as a

• vocation is a noun that means a particular occupation, business, or profession; calling; OR a strong impulse or inclination to follow a particular activity or career; OR a divine call to God's service or to the Christian life; OR a function or station in life to which one is called by God; OR A regular occupation, especially one for which a person is particularly suited or qualified; OR An inclination, as if in response to a summons, to undertake a certain kind of work, especially a religious career; a calling

Yes, I think about what I do more as a calling.  I have been on this path my entire life when I began helping out at the neighborhood family child care home.  Heck, it probably was even sooner than that.  My parents will tell you that I have always had a way with babies and younger children. 

I answered that calling, though at times in my life I had tried to resist it.  I’m glad that I have stayed on this path.  Also, looking at what I do as a vocation rather than a job or a career has really changed the way I do things at work.

When I look at this as a vocation, I make every part of my work purposeful and meaningful.

So, do you have a job, career, or vocation?