Flourishing in Our Calling

Do you ever read a book and find information that is really insightful, and then a week or two later, you can’t remember what you read? I do this all of the time. Our journals can help!

This month I’ve continued to think about Calling. I’ve been reading several things that I didn’t want to forget, so I used my journal to take notes and write down quotes. Taking notes helps the details stick a little better, especially if I go back and review them later. It’s up to me what I choose to jot down, so I just write in my journal what interests me. When I re-read my journal, I’m able to retrieve the information I found most beneficial.

I read and took notes on some principles I found on the Flourishing in Ministry/WorkWell project website.

Insights about flourishing I Wrote Down

Flourishing poppies

1. Flourishing doesn’t happen when our work sucks the life out of us. When our work is life-giving, then we flourish.

2. We need to see our life’s calling as inseparable from our true, innermost identity. “Seeing work as calling involves recognizing it as a space where our most authentic self (talents, skills, our values, convictions) can find full expression.”

3. We have to pay attention to our core convictions (what we believe is good, true, beautiful, false, wrong). Our core convictions give us a sense of purpose and help us orient our lives. If we don’t experience harmony and connectedness between our work and our convictions, it disrupts our sense of well-being.

4. Being involved in work that truly fits us and allows us to express our deepest commitments is important for our well-being. Whether we are working or volunteering, what we spend our time doing needs to fit us well. But a gap can form between the role that we perform and our identity. Ask: Does my work fit me most of the time?

5. Significant relationships are important to our sense of well-being.

   1. Friendships rarely come from matchmaking. Rather "friendships usually emerge more organically when we ‘bump into’ someone and find mutual affinity.”

   2. We need "safe relationships with similar others,” people who truly understand what we’re going through because they are in a similar role/position in their work. Pastors’ wives benefit from being friends with other pastors’ wives, and administrators from being friends with administrators.

   3. These friends can truly understand what you are thinking and feeling, they can empathize in moments of need, they can offer perspective to help as we process good and bad experiences, and they can offer good advice on how to cope with difficulties.

6. Sacrifice is a slippery slope. We are called to make sacrifices as we serve others and seek to make a difference. But we can actually sacrifice too much and become overwhelmed and not only our well-being but our ability to enact our calling is threatened.

As I go back and review the notes in my journal, all of the information comes back to mind. I try to figure out what the insights about flourishing and well-being mean for how I’m viewing my calling. Again, reflecting in my journal helps me see the connections.

How Does the Flourishing Research Relate to Calling?

What I’ve come up with:

If my work sucks the life out of me, I need to make some changes. It will harm my sense of well-being. (Work doesn’t have to be my calling, but if what I spend most of my time doing is not life-giving, figure out another plan.) It makes sense to spend some time understanding my gifts, strengths, core convictions, so that I find joy and energy in my work. What is important to me is directly linked to flourishing in my call.

I am not an island. I need significant relationships, including friends who love and encourage me, peers who share my role, and people who can open doors and provide resources as I seek to reach proficiency in my work/ministry role. My calling is significantly supported by nurturing friendships.

Protecting time to nurture friendships is not a luxury but is a fundamental need I have. When I feel squeezed for time, getting together with friends is the first thing I sacrifice, and I shouldn’t do this. In order for me to flourish in my work, I need to be intentional about maintaining balance. Developing trusted, safe friendships is an essential part of living into my call.

And then in my journal I drew a couple graphics in pencil, trying to capture all of this in a visual form.

Perhaps there’s something that you’re reading that you want to hold onto. May I encourage you to use your journal to take notes. Research has shown that the way you take notes doesn’t matter. Any notes are better than no notes and better than just underlining as you read. Somehow, in making notes, our brains store the material we’ve read. And as we review our notes, reading them helps us access all of the detailed information our brain has tucked away. Notes are the key to unlocking lots of information. Re-reading our notes and reflecting on how the insights relate to our life helps us retain the information.

Journals are a great tool for learning.

(p.s. The Flourishing in Ministry/WorkWell research project has concluded, so the website will no longer be maintained. See Matt Bloom’s book, Flourishing in Ministry for all of the insight from this research.)