Vocation and Occupation

Vocation:
noun

• a strong feeling of suitability for a particular career or occupation.

Occupation:
noun

• a job or profession.

So long as your head has not been under a rock for the past decade, you are likely familiar with the increased emphasis in our society on finding your vocation, or calling, rather than your occupation.  This has led to a boom in the amount of eager young college graduates looking for ‘social justice’ type work, as well as a large amount of young adults listless and unable to settle on anything at all, because nothing seems to fulfill that need.

It’s easy to look at the care professions and assume that most are working in them vocationally.  We generally think of nurses, teachers, and social workers as ones who have answered a calling.  Likewise, the artistic professions like acting, music and art are generally considered vocations.  Categorizing career jobs that pay very little as vocations happens because it seems to eliminate the money motivator for entering those professions.

Assuming you are interested in finding your calling or vocation, how do you discover it?  I can only speak from my experience as someone who most definitely feels called to my profession.  Your experience may vary.  I’ve always performed.  It was mainly singing as a child, but as soon as I discovered acting it grabbed ahold of me and never let go.  From the very beginning there was an innate spark that was in me, lending itself to performance in multiple forms.  I had no clue I would pursue an acting career until my senior year of college, though.  I did theatre throughout all my schooling, but was finishing my English degree and intending to set out as a missionary upon graduation.  I sat down with my missions professor to interview him on life in the bush of Africa, and midway through, he stopped me.  Looking at me straight in the eyes, he said he had seen me perform at our college musical variety show and though he loved that I had a heart for missions, he thought it would be a waste of God given talent to not pursue entertainment.  I was floored.  I began to explore how that might be possible and what I could plausibly do as an entertainer.

Fast forward 11 years and I’ve been steadily working as an actor and performer since then.  I have no desire to pursue any other occupation.  It’s an incredibly difficult career to succeed in, but I have that drive within me that fuels the work that I do because it is who I am.  Who am I?  I’m not an actor.  A singer.  Or a comedian.  I’m an interpreter.  I bring life and interpretation to text.  To song.  To comedy.  To others.  It finds its way in nearly every aspect of my life, because it is who I am.  That is my vocation.  So whether I’m building kitchen cabinets or singing a Christmas Carol in front of the church, or making a movie, I am being fulfilled in doing what I was made to do.  And that beats occupation any day, because it’s not dependent on job title or success or terms.  It’s dependent on me using what’s already there, nurturing it and being available for opportunities to share it.