Concordia College

Personal Stories of Call and Vocation

Ayla Donlin

My time and experience with the Lilly Project include completing a Reflections Internship, working in the Lilly Office for a summer and performing psychology honors research in Australia as a Lilly Vocation Research Scholar.  In all three of these experiences, I was able to explore gifts and talents that I possess and ways in which these gifts and talents come to play in a tangible “real life” opportunity. 

The lessons I learned from these experiences are priceless, but even more importantly, they have shaped my view of what vocation means and what it means to be called by God.  I think too often as a college student, I saw my “calling” or “vocation” as the career path that I would choose after college.  There is so much pressure to decide on what one wants to be and what one will do once they enter the “real world”.  I have learned that I am in the “real world” right now and always, and it is not a matter of making a career choice to fulfill my calling.  Rather, it is the lifelong pursuit of walking out in faith where I discern the Lord is directing me in order to serve others and Himself.  This is not limited to a career, this is not limited to a season in life; the exploration of my calling will be a lifelong pursuit.  Eventually, I will choose a career that will fit in line with my gifts and talents and the ways in which they enable me to serve others, but that will simply be one venue in which I can fulfill my vocation.

I believe this type of opportunity to take time to reflect while in college is invaluable, especially in a society that puts such pressure on completing a linear path to success.  One goes to high school, college, graduate school (if necessary) and then gets a job.  My time in Australia allowed me to see this much more clearly.  By taking a step out of my life as it was and living and studying in another culture, I was able to realize the stress that the linear path thinking can contain.  I saw many students in Australia who had taken a semester or year off and traveled and learned about other cultures.  I saw an Australian society that was much more informed of U.S. and world affairs than many of our citizens in the U.S.  I concluded that some of the most successful and intriguing people in life have not followed a linear path whatsoever.  They have zigzagged their way in a passionate pursuit of fulfilling the deep needs of the world.  This could mean someone who is a baker, a pastor, a professional athlete, etc.

I get excited knowing that the possibilities are endless.  I realize that the concept of discerning ones vocation is not completed overnight, or in the four years of college, but it is a lifelong attitude and pursuit.