By: Jenna Siek
During my last year of high school, I became very familiar with the question “What are you doing next?” This was usually a daunting question to answer because my vision of post-high school was rather murky. A gap year? Internship? Community college? Different ideas swirled in my brain, and I struggled to see myself fitting well into the life many people expected of me. So, what to do?
At some point, we all stare at the future and face the question, “What next?” We consider options and make plans, but sometimes life does not cooperate. Or when it does, we doubt the choice we made and second guess where God has placed us. In a life that is punctuated with question marks, Christians might feel frightened, confused, or disoriented sometimes, but ultimately we have confidence in the future because we have confidence in the God who holds it.
One Saturday, I sat outside an ice cream shop and lamented to my boyfriend. “I keep getting the question, ‘What are you doing after you graduate?’ and I am so confused about how to answer. I don’t want to go to college right now, but I feel ashamed to tell other people this. What do I say?”
I listed all my possible answers to this frustrating question and fell silent. Caleb folded his napkin and put it on our table. “You should say, ‘I will joyfully fulfill whatever vocation God gives me.’” This response was surprisingly simple, and looking back I see how accurate it really is.
Caleb’s point was that no one should despair over a list of accomplishments that might lead to success; instead, we should confidently follow the path in front of us and trust our future to the work of God. The hymn “How Clear is Our Vocation, Lord” also reminds us of this.
How clear is our vocation, Lord, When once we hear your call:
To live according to Your Word and daily learn, refreshed, restored
That you are Lord of all
And will not let us fall. (The Lutheran Service Book 853.)
Living according to the Word means we receive God’s forgiveness for sins. And as we live in His grace, we rejoice in the vocations He places us in.
My life will change drastically over the next few years, and yours will too. But God’s grace for us stands firmly still in His Word and Sacrament. No matter what choices you have made for your future, trust that God chose you to be His child and that whatever you are “doing next”, God is steadfastly and faithfully giving you the daily bread of His mercy and salvation.