You Wanna Do What?!

Sep 30, 2023

You know those conversations you have with your parents when you’re a kid about what you wanna be when you grow up?

In all honesty, I get frustrated with how our culture phrases it. There’s such a backward emphasis on the “what”, and that “what” being a job or career path as if that’s what our strive in life is supposed to be all about.

And it’s usually a pretty limited list of options that adults expect to hear out of a kid’s mouth. A doctor, a pilot, a teacher… even a mom or a dad is what we kind of expect to hear.

While I’m more interested in hearing my kids talk about who they want to be (more like Jesus, more fully alive and themselves, more kind, empathetic, patient, self-controlled and the list goes on…), here’s what happened when I was a teenager and my dad and I had this conversation.

Well, before we get there, I should tell you - my dad built his career around finance. How to help corporations manage and increase their financial health. So, what I was about to say would not land well.

I told my dad that what I wanted to be when I grew up was someone who used businesses’ money and gave it away for good.

No joke.

I basically told my dad that my hope and desire was to do the opposite of everything he worked so hard at.

Little did I know that my teenage self had spoken into existence something that would come true over and over again in my future career path.

Thankfully, while my dad wasn’t sure what I said even existed as a job, let alone a career, he patiently and gracefully watched (and assisted in any way he could of course!) as I attempted to figure it out along the way.

Now, it hasn’t been easy. It didn’t even strike me as possible when I said it really. There was certainly no career path laid out for me, and the ways that this has come into fruition have been undeniably divinely directed.

Though I wasn’t sure what exactly was in my future, as I grew in my relationship with Christ one day at a time throughout the earliest stages of my career, I was able to see a clearer and clearer path ahead of me. Not too far but certainly enough to grow my faith one vocational decision at a time.

As I’ve chosen role after role, each step has felt like a well-designed path laid out for me specifically.

Every company and type of work I’ve gotten to do, relationships I’ve built while working, and even times of struggle or difficulty in my 9-to-5 jobs, has built an incredible foundation and rhythm to a purpose-driven vocational life.

Now, not always did my vocational direction feel clear and full of purpose. I mean, there may have even been a short stint when I was an activist and lived in a van - yikes! But, looking back, I can see the golden thread of God’s direction and goodness woven throughout each piece of fabric in the ever-growing patchwork quilt of my life.

And here’s why - the words I spoke as a young kid planted small seeds of hope and desire in my heart. And, as I intentionally continue to grow in my personal joy, love, and trust in God, watering those seeds planted so long ago, He has faithfully created one opportunity after another that has developed the path I wanted, but didn’t know how to attain on my own, in my professional life.

Simply put: God is giving me the desires of my young working heart.

In Psalm 37:4 we’re reminded of exactly this promise from God. It says, “Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.”

In 1 John 5:14 it’s said this way: “And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us.”

And in Matthew 21:22 we’re reminded, “... whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive, if you have faith.”

God wants us to live lives full of delight - not just in our spare time but even while working! Especially while working, I would argue.

But!

When’s the last time you stopped to explore what (or who!) the little kid inside of you wants to be when you grow up?

The dreams of our hearts are all unique; God can only bring them to fruition in brave, hopeful, willing hearts so ask yourself, what is it you want to be when you grow up? Whisper it to Him until you can speak it out loud. Don’t waste another day bored, uninspired, or frustrated with your vocational reality. Let your heart dream and bubble your desires to the surface so that God can help you – one decision at a time – infuse purpose into your work, whatever it may be.