Focusing on Your Primary Vocation

by Randy Hain | January 11, 2024 12:05 am

Last week, I began sharing my top three life priorities[1] that keep me focused on living a meaningful, Christ-centered life.

Remember, so often we tend to make things more complicated than they really are.  When it comes to priorities, many of us have a check list of some kind that includes everything from going to the grocery store for milk to making sure our children get a great education.  We confuse mundane tasks with what is truly important in life.  If everything is important, then nothing is important. When it comes to living a fuller, richer life filled with meaning, what are your priorities?

What is truly important? What does Christ wants you to do?  

The more I try to discern the Lord’s plan, the more apparent it is becoming that I have just three simple priorities:

  1. I will serve Christ and love Him with all my heart.
  2. My family is my primary vocation.
  3. My workplace is also my ministry.

This week, let’s look at family.

“My family is my primary vocation”

I have often written about my workaholic tendencies in the early part of my career that still reappear on occasion.  When my first son was two years old, I began working for Bell Oaks Executive Search in the pursuit of a more balanced life.  But, it wasn’t until my wife and I entered the Catholic Church that we truly understood our family is our number one vocation. 

Sounds great, but what does that mean?  Isn’t our career our vocation?  How do we accomplish this lofty goal?  Here are a few practical steps we are focusing on to make this a reality:

My intent in sharing these priorities is to show how simply we can alter our lives in a way that assimilates faith, family and work and puts us on the path to a Christ-centered life, filled with meaning.  I try every day to do the actions I have shared, and I assure you that I struggle like anyone else.  The challenge is to practice them not as a bunch of new to-dos, but as part of a broader, unifying approach to a balanced and meaningful life that places Christ first in all areas of our lives.

Next week, we’ll look at that last priority: carrying your faith with you to work.

Image credit: Photo by Becca Tapert[4] on Unsplash[5]

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Endnotes:
  1. top three life priorities: https://integratedcatholiclife.org/2024/01/hain-take-charge-of-your-priorities-2/
  2. Religious Involvement and Children’s Well-Being : https://www.researchgate.net/publication/237206786_Religious_Involvement_and_Children
  3. The National Study of Youth and Religion: https://youthandreligion.nd.edu
  4. Becca Tapert: https://unsplash.com/@beccatapert?utm_source=unsplash&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=creditCopyText
  5. Unsplash: https://unsplash.com/photos/O7sK3d3TPWQ?utm_source=unsplash&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=creditCopyText

Source URL: https://integratedcatholiclife.org/2024/01/hain-focusing-on-your-primary-vocation-3/