Pursuing Dreams AND Reality

There has been much debate on which careers we should pursue in life.  Jobs that pay three figures, positions that use your best skills, and the graduation-happy one--do what you love most.  In reality, we don't always get to do our dream job.  If we did, we'd all be in a spaceship or inside the hippo display at the zoo.  As tiny people, we dream big--ballerina, fireman, doctor, zoologist.  Nothing limits our dreams when our hands don't yet fit around a coffee cup.  It's when the dreams must turn into reality that people find themselves scrambling for any job--any position that will pay the bills and keep them afloat.

This past week, several coworkers have come to me to discuss their frustrations concerning their positions.  I've heard, "I'm not happy here," and "I've always wanted to be ______, but I just don't know how to get there."  The discouragement and discontentment in their voices is overwhelming, and as they ask me for advice, I'm at a loss for what to tell them.

The grass may seem greener on the other side when deadlines are pounding on your door and customers are demanding the impossible.  The men and women who work here are talented and extremely intelligent in their areas of expertise. Am I supposed to say drop it all and run for your dreams? Am I supposed to say risk everything and pursue "happiness?" Or am I supposed to encourage these discouraged friends and tell them to stick with it?  I wish I knew the perfect answer, and while each scenario is different, I'm not convinced we're always called to do what we love. 

There are many days I regret dropping the education degree from my diploma.  The simple BS in English Literature has served me well, but I'll admit being a teacher still attracts me.  Yet, I can't ignore the ways God has used me in my two jobs since graduating college. My coworkers are all hungry for something--purpose, answers, happiness.  I have the perfect answer for them, but if I weren't here--perhaps traveling the remote lands of India for National Geographic like I had originally wanted--they wouldn't get to hear the Good News. 

We should do what makes us happy, but God provides happiness and purpose in ways we could never imagine.  I'm not excited to say I'm just an assistant, but it's what I actually DO that makes me happy.  Yes, being a teacher would be much for fun, but I'm learning more and more that we are not defined by what we do.  It's how we do it, who we influence, and why we do it that really matters.  I'm still not sure of the perfect advice to provide to my disgruntled coworkers, but I do know that contentment can be found in the most unexpected places.  And...God doesn't forget about the desires of my heart. He knows I want to write someday--He knows I want to live on a ranch.  He's just not taking me there yet.  My job here is not yet finished.