The expression of your calling may change as you face transitions in the third-third of your life. We use the terms First, Second and Third Calling to define our life in stages. Whether you have spent your working years–Second Calling–in the ministry or in the marketplace, there comes a time when the role you play in life and the expression of your calling may change. It is at that point you may need to discern the shape of your calling for a new phase of life. Sometimes it is by design, other times by default. You may have been downsized, “transitioned” from your job, become an empty nester, or even retired. You have entered a new phase, and now you have the opportunity to discover your Third Calling. But you will need to look inward to discern that calling for the next phase.
As Parker Palmer points out,
Vocation does not mean a goal that I pursue. It means a calling that I hear. Before I can tell my life what I want to do with it, I must listen to my life telling me who I am.
–Parker J. Palmer, Let Your Life Speak, pg. 4
In our Re-Ignite Retreats, we take the time to “listen to our life” by doing life-review. By looking back you gain perspective on where you have come from, which may give you clues as to where you could go from here. While you may have concluded your formal career, your calling continues to exist, and you may in fact finally be free to pursue it wholeheartedly.
Excerpt from Third Calling: What are you doing the rest of your life? pgs 10-11
written by Richard and Leona Bergstrom
Featured image by CanStock
