The word vocation comes from the Latin vocare, to call. It implies that somewhere behind the work, there is a caller and that the work of a life is less about constructing a path than discovering one.
A job is work you do for pay. A career is a path you build through ambition and accumulation. But a vocation is something you are fitted for, pulled toward, sometimes pushed toward, by something larger than your own preferences.
The biblical tradition assumes this is true of everyone. Gifts are given, not constructed. Bezalel is called to be an artisan. Paul lists administration and helping alongside prophecy as genuine callings. And Jonah, whose story we read this morning, is called to something so specific and so unwelcome that he buys a ticket in the opposite direction.
What are you fitted for? And are you moving toward it or away from it?
