Vocation and Spiritual Formation (Part One)

At the beginning of this last academic year with the college students, I began a process of asking them a series of questions focusing on spiritual formation and vocation. I firmly believe the two are inextricably tied together. As the academic year came to a finale I found myself pondering significantly the questions I had been asking the students.
    We used the lyrics of Switchfoot's song, "This Is Your Life" from their popular album "The Beautiful Letdown," as a starting point for asking the question, "Are you who you want to be?"

    "this is your life, are you who you want to be
    this is your life, are you who you want to be
    this is your life, is it everything you dreamed that it would be
    when the world was younger and you had everything to lose"

I'm not sure what Switchfoot intended their hearers to question with these lyrics, but for me they raise up the same questions Parker Palmer asks in his book Let Your Life Speak: Listening for the Voice of Vocation. In his book in the first few pages he poses the questions, "What am I meant to do? Who am I meant to be?” Asking the question, "Am I who I want to be?" assumes we know who it is we're supposed to be. As a follower of Jesus this raises another question, "Who is it God desires me to be?" Or, to ask it another way, "Who is it God has created me to be?
    As I've chatted with people of all ages I've come to the realization most people don't have the answers to these questions. They think they do or they have lived the life they think they are supposed to be living, but it may not be the life they were given to live. Our culture and society fails at assisting young people to understand the answers to these basic existential questions. In my estimation the church falls just as short in helping our young people answer them too. Many are left wondering, without any guidance, if "the life am living is really the life that wants to live in me."

Comments

[clay]

d... i like the line of your questioning. I've never guided university students through this line of questioning (my failure). But have handed out Piper's "Don't Waste Your Life" like it is candy.

What I appreciate about DWYL is that it punches the suburban American dream right in the mouth... and attempts to raise young adults vision for their lives to a higher, god glorifying level...