In the Spring a student's fancy lightly turns to thoughts of graduate school. – Alfred Lord Tennyson, more or less In recent weeks, I've addressed whether graduate school was a path a certain doom (no) and whether getting a tenure-track job was a futile dream (probably). Most students thinking about graduate school, however, aren't planning on a PhD. They're thinking of a professional degree with a specific career path in mind, a master's to explore their discipline further, or (in many cases) simply continued … [Read more...] about What Do You Need to Get Ready for Graduate School?
Os Guinness
Best Books on Calling and Vocation?
I recently wrote about themes of calling and vocation in Chaim Potok's My Name Is Asher Lev. This got me to thinking: What are the best books on calling and vocation? Here are a few that occur to me. What books would you add to the list? These below are all Christian nonfiction books, but novels, secular guides, poetry, anything, is welcome as suggestions. Os Guinness, The Call: Finding and Fulfilling the Central Purpose of Your Life One of the classics on calling and vocation, this book is made up of … [Read more...] about Best Books on Calling and Vocation?
Finding Calcutta: “call awareness” w/o losing “Caller dependence”
Questions to explore: What is the definition of calling? What are biblical characteristics of "finding" one's calling? Who comes to mind as examples of biblical characters who “found” their calling? What are sins that undermine our calling and we should be prepared to address? Definitions of Calling [T]he truth that God calls us to himself so decisively that everything we are, everything we do, and everything we have is invested with a special devotion and dynamism lived out as a response to his … [Read more...] about Finding Calcutta: “call awareness” w/o losing “Caller dependence”
Finding Calcutta: Find yourself in doing, not criticizing
Questions on the table: What are the spiritual principles for our attitude and our actions in pursuing God's calling? How are attitude, action and audience part of our calling? The Attitude of the Called Our eyes and our heart should be on our God. Criticism and cynicism do not have a place in our calling. Mother (Teresa) believed that criticism weakens our will to obey, and that our will is the only thing that God will not take from us. Mother Teresa wrote to her sisters, "It is much easier to … [Read more...] about Finding Calcutta: Find yourself in doing, not criticizing
What is your calling?
Even though A Neuroscience Professor Makes Her Move to the Racetrack (Bill Finley, NY Times, 7/29/2009) is in a worldly setting, her story reminded me of the importance of embracing and stepping into our calling (as individuals and the people of God). This might mean moving in the direction of research as a junior faculty at Johns Hopkins, or away from it. This might involve living out the dreams of your earthly family, or it might not. According to Os Guinness: Calling is the truth that God calls us to himself so … [Read more...] about What is your calling?