What is your calling?

We humans are workers.

We may or may not get paid for that work. Some of us have careers while others have the joyous responsibility of working at home and caring for children. If we are truly blessed, our job may also be our vocation.

Vocation refers to our calling–our purpose, our service and our work toward making this world a better place for everyone.

As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Ephesians 4:1

This past week a friend copied a post to her Facebook page lamenting low teacher salaries and the lack of respect given to teachers.

I’ve been a teacher most of my life (forty years now).

Naturally I was interested. 

I didn’t find anything new in the post, having read something similar several years ago. Sadly, most information in the post is true. Compared to other professions requiring college degrees, teacher salaries are very low. There’s an historical reason for that.

Early educators, centuries ago, were men. However, as economic conditions required more and more women to move into the workplace, administrators of schools systems and educational institutions recognized a cheaper labor force and hired women for lower salaries than those paid to men (if you are skeptical of this fact, school board records from previous centuries confirm this gender disparity). As men moved on to higher paying jobs, the lower salaries for teachers became the standard. Both male and female teachers now are victims of lower wages that do not match the amount of college preparation required for their job.

But, what I noticed about the post is that someone commented that my friend was “over-reacting.”

Hmmmmm….

I love teaching. It’s my vocation, my purpose in life, my service.

Teaching is my calling.

Few, if any teachers, go into the profession for the money. With a college degree, many with multiple degrees, these professionals could join the cooperate world and make six figure salaries.

Why don’t they?

Because… for dedicated teachers, teaching is their vocation–their purpose–their contribution to make our world a better place by nurturing our most precious gift–our children.

Because she is a dedicated teacher, I know my friend was hurt by the negative comment. Like most faithful teachers, she spends long days in the classroom, stays late in the afternoon to prepare for the next day, and works nights and week-ends to keep up with the endless paperwork required.

Do you have a calling? Perhaps you feel as strongly about your calling as we teachers do. I’d love to hear from you.

If you have the opportunity and inclination, I hope you will thank teachers for their dedication and service to our children. Our children are our future.

What vocation could possibly more important than the teaching of our children?

And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. Colossians 3:17