You Have a Calling: Finding Your Vocation in the True, Good, and Beautiful
By Karen Swallow Prior
Brazos Press | 2025 | 160 pages (hardcover) | $21.99
Of the doctrines promulgated by the Protestant Reformers, one of the most influential was a renewed understanding of human vocation. Medieval society was divided into three estates—those who prayed, those who fought, and those who worked—with a stark division between the sacred and the secular. But the Reformers taught that all people have vocations with which they can glorify God and promote his kingdom, even if those vocations are not strictly tied to the Church. This transformed the Western world over the course of centuries.
However, in her book You Have a Calling, Karen Swallow Prior draws upon her many years counseling university students to argue that our society has once again transformed in ways that have left many people—young and old, Christian and non-Christian—uncertain of their purpose in the world, trying desperately to craft a perfect path through life. “The idea of having a calling slowly evolved from holding a spiritual office (whether in the church or family) into making a living and having worldly success,” she writes (18).
Prior is at pains to stress that a calling is not necessarily connected to paid employment, writing that “while work and calling do overlap at times, they are not the same” (15). She notes the common advice to pursue your passion and “do what you love so you never have to work a day in your life” is flawed on both a theoretical and practical level. “The fact is that being paid to do what you love has, for most of human history, been the exception, not the rule” (40), she explains, adding that, “The objective goodness of something is not measured by the depth or breadth of our passion for it. Passion is subjective, individual, and changing” (36).
This compact volume is not a foolproof guide to discerning your ideal career, mate, or recreational activity. “I ought to say up front that this book is not going to tell you what your calling is,” Prior writes, “But I hope it will help show you how to discover and fulfill the various callings that unfold throughout your life” (3). All human beings are created in God’s image and thus find their primary purpose bearing witness to the Creator (5), but “we are each called to pursue truth, goodness, and beauty in all of life. Only in doing this can you discern and then follow your particular vocation, that particular work God created you to do” (3).
Prior considers what it means to be “called,” a term that implies recognition by an external force. “It is not our job to be called. It is our job to answer the call …. But hearing and discerning this call so that we can answer it isn’t always easy. While passion burns inside us, a call comes from outside” (58). Our calling comes directly from God but may be identified by fellow image bearers. “Even if the sense of our calling is felt within, the actual call comes from other people—and ultimately, we trust as believers, from God. God is an external, objective source” (61). Therefore, “we need, actively and proactively, to help others hear their call” (76).
Another trap into which we may fall is believing that we have a single vocation in life which can never be altered. “Vocations are like roles: we can serve the same role in a variety of life and work circumstances, but at times the roles can shift” (63). This helps us understand that failures and dead ends are not proof that we are failures as people. Our job is merely to be faithful and allow God to use our efforts as he wishes. “Thus, the doctrine of vocation emphasizes what God does through our work rather than what we do. We give our best efforts, and the failures, as well as the successes, are ultimately God’s business” (77–78).
We need not be passionate about our vocations, but we should see them as opportunities to glorify God and serve our neighbor. We strive for excellence not simply to become successful, rich, or popular, but because it is how we honor God. “Regardless of your work or calling, approaching it like a craft that can be mastered only after you submit to that work offers a different way of understanding calling than one based on mere passion alone” (106).
None of us can do everything or help everyone, and that is all right. “The point is that no one gets to have it all. All we need—and all we should want—is what God calls us to. The situation he has assigned (1 Cor. 7:17) is good” (102).
The final portion of the book focuses on defining and pursuing the true, the good, and the beautiful, which according to the classical understanding are all united. To seek them is to seek Christ and the good life. “I believe that if you pursue truth, goodness, and beauty in all your work, all your play, all your ways, and all your days, you will find your calling. In fact, I think pursuing truth, goodness, and beauty is your calling” (82).
You Have a Calling is a short and sweet work that draws upon many of Prior’s literary heroes, as well as a few heroes in her own life. As she notes, this is not a book that will allow the reader to perfectly chart his or her future. Rather, it points us toward the things all Christians should be pursuing and reminds us of the ultimate dignity and purpose of work: we strive not for ourselves alone, but for each other. “The doctrine of vocation is a robust acknowledgment of the truth that God intended human beings to provide for each other through each other’s work” (64).
I recommend this book for those considering or reconsidering their calling in life, as well as those who need encouragement as they daily seek to fulfill their vocations for the sake of God and neighbor.
