In the book titled "Working", author Studs Terkel interviewed ordinary people, asking them how they felt about their jobs.

A 28 year old woman writing health care literature responded, "Jobs are not big enough for people. It's not just the assembly line worker whose job is too small for his spirit, you know. A job like mine, if you really put your spirit into it, you would sabotage immediately. You don't dare. So you absent your spirit from it. My mind has been so divorced from my job, except as a source of income, it's really absurd."

Terkel realized through the interviews that working is about the search for daily meaning in the course of our struggle for daily bread.

At the twentieth reunion of graduates from Harvard Business School, the keynote speaker began, "By now most of you have come to realize that happiness is not the result of success."

Neither work nor career is satisfying without a sense of calling. Yet, while many have a reasonable understanding of their 'jobs', most have little sense of their 'vocation', otherwise known as 'calling'. We have become a people rich in 'means' yet poor in 'meanings'.

The modern world both fuels and frustrates our quest for meaning and purpose. The unprecedented amount of change and the multiplicity of options, fuel the dream that we will discover the work that is not only perfectly suited to our interests and skills, but will fulfill our central purpose in life. The result is that we are left scrambling in a prolonged exploration to find what is definitively 'us'.

Why is it then, that for many, true fulfillment seems so elusive? Is it perhaps that we look for a call without a Caller? Could it be that we are responsible to Someone greater than ourselves? Could it be that rather then experimenting endlessly, we need the help of the Supreme Guidance Counselor?

God called Moses, speaking to him through the mysterious phenomenon of a scrubby bush fully enflamed but not consumed. God was calling Moses to be His instrument in providing deliverance for enslaved millions. Though Moses confessed his utter inadequacy for the job, God was making clear what it takes to make a difference in the world today. We may feel as if we are nothing but a scrubby bush on the backside of the desert. Moses could not see himself approaching an intolerant world leader and demanding the release of the captive slaves. God was saying it is not 'the bush' but 'the fire' in the bush that ultimately makes a difference in the world today.

Your life can have world-changing and culture-shaping impact if you respond to God's call. It is possible for you to be continually on-fire without burning out. As far as God is concerned, He is not overly concerned about the color of your parachute, or the results of your latest personality, gift, talent or job assessment. Any old bush will do. We need the promised Indwelling Spirit of Christ manifesting the power and presence of God in our lives. God will take care of the rest.

"Faithful is He who calls you, who also will do it." (1Thessalonians 5:24). God, who calls us by His grace, is pleased to reveal His Son in us. (See Galatians 1:15-16).

Our primary response to the Call will be a yielding of ourselves to the Caller, that we be first and foremost His. Absolutely His. In the words of Oswald Chambers, that we are willing to give 'our utmost for His highest'.

God has an infinite understanding of our lives. He is intensely aware of our story and the opportunities we have to make a difference in the world in which we live. He calls us along the lines of our particular gift-mix, our education and family background, experience, and gives us opportunities to advance His purposes in definite ways. But He is not limited. He is always ready to do a new thing in your life.

Jesus calls us today with two life-altering words: "Follow me." Those who have taken up that call throughout history have found that their deepest longings have been fulfilled. The byproduct of our obedience to Christ will be that we discover our true selves. Freed by the love of Christ from the love of the world, we are able to contribute the most to it.

Called to Himself and His tasks,