This selection is from Bill Lutz’s excellent encouragement, “This Work is not a Job,”  one of 11 such insights in  Why This Work Matters.  For a pocket-sized dose of encouragement, check out the book.  It really will fit in your pocket.  

Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy what I do.  Writing proposals, meeting with neighborhood groups, collaborating with colleagues, bringing plans into reality, it’s is a real joy, at least most of the time.  However, what I do is not a job.

It is, rather, a calling, and there is a huge difference.

Jobs occupy our time —  we don’t have to have our heart in our jobs.  We can take a job, we can leave a job.  It’s a transaction.  What I do is a calling — it is something that has deeper meaning.

A calling is something you do, even though you don’t want to always do it.  A calling is something that resides deep inside your core.

You can’t shake a calling.  No matter where you are, you are called.  No matter what you feel, you are called.  As much as you might want to fight it, the best you can do is simply accept it.