Have you ever been certain about what you were made to do? 

I certainly have. I feel called to write stories, and, someday, to publish them. 

But while this can motivate me and get me excited, it has its drawbacks as well. 

For one thing, because of this, it’s easy to slip into a mood where your calling feels like the most important thing. 

It’s easy for it to become an idol. 

I hadn’t thought much about it until recently, but when I get caught up in my writing, other things tend to fade to the background. I start prioritizing it over everything else in my life, and I stop caring so much about the other things God has called me to do, such as helping out around the house. 

This might sound familiar to you, and it might not, but even if you’re not sure what you’ve been called to do yet, you might run into this behavior someday. 

So, let’s dive in. 

What is a calling? 

This might seem like a silly question. A calling is what God made you for or wants you to do with your life, right?

So then, if that’s the case, the calling of every one of us Chistians is exactly that: to do what God wants us to do. 

Then, why am I asking this question? Because that right there is actually quite difficult in practice, and a lot of people get mixed up in it. Like me, for example. 

I told you just a moment ago that I feel called to write and publish stories. 

But what if God were to take me to Heaven right now?

What would that mean for my “calling” to publish? Certainly, God wants me to fulfill my calling if that’s what He made me for, right? But does that mean that I’ll necessarily live until I’ve published something? Of course not. 

So then, let’s go back to that definition and try to figure out where I went wrong. 

I mentioned “life” in that definition, making it sound like every calling is some “glorious purpose” that is the driving force of one’s story. 

But you know that the driving force in your life is God. 

So maybe your calling isn’t one massive rope you cling to all your life, but a series of threads. 

Maybe you have a calling all your life, but it can change and grow, or split into multiple callings. 

For example, I do think that God wants me to write stories, but maybe right now, He would rather I work on this post or do dishes. 

Maybe those things are another part of my calling. 

This morning, when I woke up, I was full of excitement, because I was planning on writing a scene in my current project that I’ve been looking forward to for months. 

But then I remembered this article. 

Don’t get me wrong, I love writing for all of you here as well. But I had to choose between writing this today or writing that scene.  

And God was calling me to write this. 

You might have a thicker thread that you see as your main calling or vocation, but every little step you take relates to hundreds of other little callings that God has given you. 

Wash the dishes. 

Do your homework. 

Play with your sibling. 

Eat dinner with your family. 

Go to work, even if it isn’t your dream job.

Let your sister have the last cookie. 

Some of these you probably recognize as being of some importance. You know God wants you to go to work and do your homework, for instance. 

But some of these, even if you know that maybe it would be kind, don’t seem so important. Like playing with a sibling instead of looking at your phone, or letting them have that cookie you had been looking forward to eating. 

Yet even these are little callings. They are things that God wants you to do, because they are loving to your neighbor. 

So then, a calling isn’t so much a huge mountain you need to conquer as it is a thousand little bumps and hills. 

Don’t add to your calling.

You’ll notice I included publishing in what I feel my calling is. 

But is that really what God has in mind, or is that just what I have in mind? I would love to get published someday, but that doesn’t mean I’m called to do it. Maybe God wants me to write all my life and never see my stories on a shelf. 

You have to be careful in this area as well. It’s remarkably easy to add something you want to what God has in mind. 

I’ll wash the dishes, and then I’ll take a break. How do you know God wants you to have a break after washing the dishes? Maybe He wants you to mop when you’re done.

I’ll give this cookie to my sister, and then I can have the last one next time. What makes you think you’ll get it next time? Maybe God wants your sister to have the last cookie every time. 

Sometimes, God doesn’t even want us to finish the little calling.

I’ll do my homework so it isn’t late. How do you know? Maybe God will throw something in your path that stops you from finishing. Like your mother telling you to clean the house. 

This brings up another point. 

Take your callings as they come. 

When God calls you to do something, you have to be aware that He can change that calling in a moment. 

And you have to learn to adjust. 

If you’re like me, you might have a difficult time leaving tasks half-finished, but if God calls you to something else in the middle of a project, you can’t complain. You can’t get the thing done really fast and then move on. You have to get right to it. 

On the other side of the coin, maybe you have a hard time not leaving tasks half finished. And maybe because of that, God calls you to finish your task, even if there’s something else you would rather be doing. 

If your mom tells you to mow the lawn, you can’t stop halfway through, even if you have homework to do. 

God decides when each little task is completed, not you. 

And this applies to your vocation as well. God decides when I’m done writing. That could be never, or it could be next week. 

All you can do is faithfully follow until you’re directed elsewhere.

Take it one step at a time.

Most people want to do great things, and they want to be remembered for those great things. 

But while it’s good to have goals and push yourself to improve, you have to remember who holds your life. 

And you have to keep in mind that we are pretty blind in the grand scheme of things. For all we know, we could be walking towards a cliff. 

So trust God and let Him lead you every step of the way. 

When you were younger, you probably had several dream jobs at various points, and while this one may feel like the one, it might not be. 

God could take you in a completely different direction. 

It’s like children’s games: Marco Polo, Blind Man’s Bluff, and so many others. You might hear someone and go charging after them, but every step you take matters. And sometimes, when you stop chasing one person, you run right into another. 

God knows what’s best, and He’ll lead you where you need to be. So let Him guide each of your footsteps.

Trust that even if He points you in the opposite direction, there’s a reason. And it’s far better than whatever you were chasing.