Joe Bunting

The Secret to Fulfilling Your Calling

“It’s a marathon, not a sprint,” Mark the RD said,

and as he was talking, I was reminded of a story.

The most important lesson to learn about fulfilling your calling = JOG

This past summer, every Sunday I was running around at 1 o’clock to play Ultimate Frisbee.  My feet would be bare, and I would always forget my sunscreen so often, a few days later, my nose would be peeling.  It was worth it though

On this particular day, as usual about half way through I was exhausted.  The sun was hot, and I’ve never been much of a runner. 

I played volleyball in high school. Put me in the endzone, throw a loft to jump for, and I’ll probably come down with it, but running for 2 hours straight is not my specialty.

Today, my team had just dropped the Frisbee.  The other team was making a fast break down the field. The guy I was guarding broke for the endzone.  I needed to make a defensive stop or risk the other team getting a score, but let me tell you, I wasn’t thinking something confident like, “I’m going to slap that Frisbee down!”

No, what was going through my mind was, “How am I ever going to run that far?” I realized there was no way I could get down to the field in time to make a play. The best I could do was jog down there and hope for the best. So I jogged. The guy I was guarding must have been pretty tired too because by the time we made it to the endzone there were only a couple arms lengths between us.

The guy throwing the disc saw my mark and thought he was going to make an easy score. He tossed it right to him. Unfortunately for him, I was only a few feet behind, and what did I do? I slapped that Frisbee down!

Then, I threw the disc to start the counter-attack and we ending up scoring!

It’s a marathan not a sprint.  It’s better to jog for the whole game than sprint the first half and walk the second. 

What does this mean for you and your calling?

Right now I have ton of work on my plate, and I just don’t have the time I want for the things most directly related to my calling.  My problem is sometimes I decide not work on it at all unless I can get a solid 3 or 4 hours on it.

But wouldn’t it be better to devote 30 minutes a day.  Then if I have more time, I can work on it more.  If it’s 3 hours or nothing, it might never get done. 

There’s your tip of the day from Joe: work on what you feel passionate about and called to as much as you can in one day, even if that is just 30 minutes.  Spreading the work out like this might not seem as fulfilling now, but you will end up feeling better about yourself and your work. 

And remember, life is a marathon, not a sprint.

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Ultimate!