finding the meeting place

some words of wisdom from frederick buechner on this fine monday morning. hoping that you find sincere joy in your work, in all you do, and with the people you find yourself surrounded by - from day to day.

life is fragile, and if there is any way that we can strive to live our deep gladness every minute of every day, i say we do it. and if we can't, let's at least try. 

Amen? 
AMEN.

The Place God Calls You To

Frederick Buechner

There are all kinds of different voices calling you to do all different kinds of work, and the problem is to find out which is the voice of God, rather than that of society, say, or the super-ego, or self-interest. By and large a good rule for finding out is the following: the kind of work God usually calls you to is the kind of work (a) that you most need to do, and (b) that the world most needs to have done.

If you really get a kick out of your work, you've presumably met requirement (a), but if your work is writing deodorant commercials, the chances are you've missed requirement (b). On the other hand, if your work is being a doctor in a leper colony, you've probably met requirement (b), but if most of the time you're bored and depressed by your work, the chances are that you've not only bypassed (a), but probably aren't helping your patients much either.

Neither the hair shirt nor the soft berth will do.

The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and 
the world's deep hunger meet.