GTM Part 48

Introduction

Question a young man in the prime of his youth and his hustle asked: “Does vocation have like a deadline?  …As in like an expiry date…?  Like what happens if you discover your vocation when you’re ninety?”

Commentary

I think the answer depends on several things, not least of which is what exactly are we referring to here when we speak of “vocation”. Are you referring to the spiritual vocation, the profession or the mission?  But let’s not get caught up with definitions at this point…  Let’s assume it refers to one’s spiritual vocation (see Part 44, no.4) because just by the sheer need to support yourself you will have had to choose at least a profession (income-generating activity/job) of some sort.

So then, what happens if you discover your spiritual vocation when you’re ninety?  Let’s ask a slightly different question: are you discovering your vocation at ninety because you’ve been putting off making a decision about it?

Read, now, the quotation from Peter Kreeft.  

What’s the lesson here?  That failing to make a decision, is itself a decision.  If God calls you to one of those vocations listed in Part 44 no.4 and you put off answering the call for whatever reason, you are in essence rejecting the call.  This is why the ancients would say that to “obey promptly is to obey twice”.  To respond promptly is to respond twice.

For Kreeft, failing to make a decision is a sad thing.  For Jordan Peterson, failing to make a decision is a bad thing.  Read his quotation in the annex now.

What’s the lesson?  Even if we’re only speaking about your spiritual vocation, you have to be proactive!  You have to “wrestle with God” over it.  At least try! Give it your best and most manly shot! Even if things don’t work out, at least you tried (see last quotation from Tennyson).  And if you don’t know what your vocation is clearly enough to follow it, at least actively prepare yourself for it in body, mind and soul.

I finish with a last quotation for today (still on spiritual vocation): There are many Christians who are persuaded that the Redemption will be completed in all environments of the world, and that there have to be some souls — they do not know which ones — who will contribute to carrying it out with Christ. But they think it will take centuries, many centuries. It would be an eternity, if it were to take place at the rate of their self-giving.  That was the way you yourself thought, until someone came to “wake you up”.

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