Calling and Character

I began this blog with a definition from Os Guinness (just a few posts, but in time much longer!):

Calling is the 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 summons and service.

For the most part, for years really, I have been thinking about this in terms of, "My job can be so filled with a special devotion and dynamism, and lived out as a response to his summons and service."  I appear to have believed that primary calling to God is basic; having intellectually assented to that, I now move on and think about more advanced things like work and vocation.

Over and over in the past few weeks, I have been challenged anew to look deeper. And I have been filled with longing not to do some grand or important thing, but to be the kind of man who can--

In his book After You Believe, N.T. Wright calls it character.  As does Morgan Snyder in the Ransomed Heart podcast "Men in their 30's,"  Both book and podcast challenge me to think not about finding the right kind of work, but about being the kind of man who responds rightly no matter what circumstance I find myself in.  Wright gives examples of men whose character was so formed over years of practice, that when the crisis came (famously, Captain Sullenberger landing his plane on the Hudson), they were able to respond immediately and correctly.  He contrasts developing character over time with following a set of rules-- character allows us to respond in the crisis, to creatively improvise by "second nature" to unfolding events. And Snyder talks about men being worthy to handle authority, about being a leader all the way through and not just in title...

"Everything we are, everything we do, everything we have." I think about being the kind of husband my wife can trust day in and day out to be looking out for her best and for our family's best, someone she can trust to lead over the long haul and not just in bursts of brief-lived energy. I think about who I am with my daughters-- how I play with them, discipline them, teach them, respond to them in play and under stress-- about being the kind of father who imbues them with a sense of security, energy, adventure, and purpose.   I think about being the kind of man at work who strives towards solutions no matter the obstacle without grumble or complaint, working side-by-side with others do the best we can, helping to make the whole team better as a result.

I think about being that kind of man, having that kind of character...  More to come.