Your Calling Here and Now: Making Sense of Vocation

In this vague outing, Ambrose University president Smith (Wisdom from Babylon) encourages readers to find how they can best serve God. “Vocation is never discerned in a historical vacuum; it is always in the specifics of the world in which we live,” Smith contends, urging readers to consider how their particular circumstances equip them to contribute to bettering the world and to living out “the call of God on our lives.” He outlines “four indispensable capacities” to help one make the most of their situation (focus, courage, connectedness, and patience) and suggests that no vocation should be looked down upon, citing the laudatory treatment of the wise woman’s manual labor in Proverbs. Explaining the benefits of pursuing one’s vocation from within an organization, Smith posits that working with others whose strengths complement one’s own enables one to “make a difference far greater than we could accomplish” individually. Though exhortations to “live out our vocations in the here and now” are short on actionable guidance, Smith’s consideration of how to abide by Christian principles contains some pearls of wisdom, such as his discussion of the “hallmarks of the Christian mind: transcendence, truth, reason, sin, love, and wisdom.” This works better as a philosophical program for modern Christian life than as a practical guide to finding one’s vocation. (June)