{"id":432,"date":"2025-01-27T15:18:25","date_gmt":"2025-01-27T16:18:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bergcom-engineering.com\/?p=432"},"modified":"2025-03-19T11:14:59","modified_gmt":"2025-03-19T11:14:59","slug":"whats-missing-in-the-calling-conversation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.bergcom-engineering.com\/index.php\/2025\/01\/27\/whats-missing-in-the-calling-conversation\/","title":{"rendered":"WHAT\u2019S MISSING IN THE CALLING CONVERSATION?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Calling<\/em> can certainly be a loaded word. Perhaps others have used the term calling well, to explain what compels them. Or, it\u2019s been used poorly, selfishly, as an excuse not to show up for others, or even as a form of manipulation to get those who feel called to work more for less (less pay, less recognition, less health, less help, etc.).<\/p>\n

If you\u2019ve had the idea of calling used in your life in a way that has caused trauma, guilt, shame, or feeling left out, I want to pause and say to you: I\u2019m so sorry. I\u2019m so sorry this concept has been used inappropriately against you. That\u2019s not okay. A healthy calling should bring healing, not harm. If you\u2019re willing, just for right now, try to separate the word calling <\/em>from the person or persons who used it wrongly.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s peel back some of these layers.<\/p>\n

While the topic of calling is not new\u2014and amazing scholars and writers have provided key insights into calling\u2014one thing still seems to be missing from the conversation: Calling is inherently about communication. Calling is not a static thing. It is not something that happens once, in a contained way.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Calling is about communication between the called, the Caller, and community. I\u2019m not saying this just because communication is my area of study. To have a calling necessarily implies that someone or something is calling us. As Christians, we know the Caller is God. We also know that our great call, coming from the greatest command, is to love God and to love others (Matthew\u00a022:37-40). As followers of Christ, our primary calling to love God is reflected in how we love others. In this way, calling is not just about the Caller and the called, it is also about the community we impact, and by whom we are impacted.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Calling is a dynamic relationship between the Caller, the called, and the community. And like any relationship, our calling is ever-developing. Until we recognize calling is about relationship<\/em>, about actual interaction, we miss the entire point of the calling experience.<\/p>\n

Like any relationship, which involves ongoing communication, understanding calling as a communicative process<\/em> is key. At its very core, work calling indicates an ongoing visceral interaction between a Caller and the one being called.<\/p>\n

New York Times<\/em> best-selling author, pastor, teacher, writer, and podcast host John Mark Comer reminds us that to be human means we change, grow, and develop. And this, he says, \u201cis by God\u2019s design.\u201d9 If part of the human experience is continual growth, straddling an invisible line between being (who we are now) and becoming (who we will be), then our relationship with the Caller is also meant to be dynamic. This means that what you\u2019re going through right now has the potential to inform your calling.<\/p>\n

So much unseen work goes into the formation and development of a calling, like the underwater part of an iceberg. I remember going on an Alaskan cruise and witnessing the almost unearthly beauty of icebergs. In the frosty, early mornings they seemed to have a faint glow in the water. It was literally breathtaking. What\u2019s shocking is we see only the tip. What we don\u2019t see, what\u2019s below, is the majority.<\/p>\n

The formation and development of calling is like an iceberg. A considerable amount of the process is below the surface. This matters because the work we do, the work that feels like a calling, may not always be seen by others. It may not always be measurable. The emotional and spiritual labor that we experience may not be fully valued or understood. Others may ask more of us (or we may demand more of ourselves), not realizing just how much we are already giving.<\/p>\n

If a missing emphasis on the topic of calling is the relational core, another gap is the privileging of a moment over a journey. While some of us know very early on what our calling is, some don\u2019t. And that\u2019s completely normal. In fact, it\u2019s very common. That\u2019s why thinking about work calling as a journey, rather than merely a fixed moment in time, is more accurate.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s this mythic idea of calling, that it will fall upon you in bright golden rays from heaven, with a loud voice calling out your name. We certainly might have crystal clear epiphany moments, but they aren\u2019t isolated. They are connected to a larger story, to other pieces of the puzzle. We need to pay attention to the little things.<\/p>\n

Stephen, a financial advisor, described his process of identifying his work calling as both a journey and an epiphany. Originally going to school to become a licensed minister, on his days off he\u2019d constantly gravitate toward reading financial books. At one point in the interview, he said, \u201cAnd then it dawned on me, they [the books he was reading] were all on the stock market and, I heard God say, not in an audible voice, but in my spirit, \u2018Why are you denying who you are?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

We need to pay attention to what we are drawn toward and look for ways this might be integrated into our calling. It\u2019s good to listen and look for those moments of feeling called. The trick is that in the actual moment, we don\u2019t often see the larger implications. It isn\u2019t until we look back, until we see our story unfolded, that the patterns emerge.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Placing a value on the communication within a calling means the outcome isn\u2019t the only concern. There\u2019s great value in the process, formation, development, and relationship of calling, in how we seek to live out our calling in the everyday. In fact, the apostle Paul gives this charge: \u201cMake a careful exploration of who you are and the work you have been given, and then sink yourself into that\u201d (Galatians 6:4 MSG). When we recognize that calling is not a one-time thing but rather an ongoing process, it means that what we\u2019re doing now has the potential to be part of that process. Even if we\u2019re in a place of burnout right now, this can help inform our calling if we let it.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Taken from Healthy Calling<\/em><\/a> by Arianna Malloy. \u00a92024 by Arianna Malloy. Used by permission of InterVarsity Press. www.ivpress.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Arianna Molloy<\/strong> (PhD, University of Denver) is associate professor of organizational communication at Biola University. Her research focuses on meaningful work, work as a calling, and the connection between humility and burnout in the workplace. She is an award-winning scholar and educator who has published in the\u00a0International Journal of Business Communication<\/em>,\u00a0Communication Studies<\/em>, and\u00a0Christianity Today<\/em>. Arianna is also a consultant for organizations, business professionals, and ministries. Arianna and her husband, Allen, have one son and enjoy running half marathons, traveling the world, and drinking good coffee.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The post WHAT\u2019S MISSING IN THE CALLING CONVERSATION?<\/a> appeared first on Newbreed Training<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Calling can certainly be a loaded word. Perhaps others have used the term calling well, to explain what compels them. Or, it\u2019s been used poorly, selfishly, as an excuse not to show up for others, or even as a form of manipulation to get those who feel called to work more for less (less pay, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":434,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[14],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.bergcom-engineering.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/432"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.bergcom-engineering.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.bergcom-engineering.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.bergcom-engineering.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.bergcom-engineering.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=432"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.bergcom-engineering.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/432\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":435,"href":"http:\/\/www.bergcom-engineering.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/432\/revisions\/435"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.bergcom-engineering.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/434"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.bergcom-engineering.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=432"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.bergcom-engineering.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=432"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.bergcom-engineering.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=432"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}