Do What You Love
Love and Money
I was 20 years old, had no experience, but felt called to pastor. Unable to land a job based on my qualifications (as I had none), I did what I could; I showed up, worked hard and was faithful. We followed our pastor from Colorado to Reno to help him start a church with no guarantee of anything, just a clear sense that God wanted to use us. I worked full time at a grocery store and then at Home Depot for over three years. During that time, I was developing into the youth pastor role at our church. What kept me going? Passion and calling.
I loved doing it and I hoped that if I invested time and passion into the ministry eventually I would be good at doing it. Now ten years later I've realized something I didn't know back then, and I'm not sure when I learned it: if you love doing something and you are good at it, people will pay you to do it.
I have seen it happen again and again in all sorts fields; artists, musicians, fighters, writers, pastors, and preschool workers. In every field you will find people with a passion for what they are doing and making money doing it. Here's the kicker though, none of them do it for the money! They do it because of the sheer joy of getting to do what they love to do.
If you love what you are doing, you will invest hours upon hours into it: You will read everything you can about it, you will talk about it with others, you will dream about it at night, and think about it when you wake up. The passion you carry for it will propel you forward to be an expert in it. As you become an expert in it, people will start to pay to get help from you or learn from you. You will see your current job as a means to get to where you want to be and not an end in itself.
I think this is the secret to living out your calling instead of just doing a job. It's the secret to really living, instead of merely existing. Do what you love to do and do it so well that people pay you to do it.
Next Steps:
What do you love to do?
What would you do if you didn't need money to do it?
How have you limited yourself to existing rather than truly living?
Comment below!