Your Calling is More Than Your Paycheck

What do you do when your gifts go in multiple directions?

Photo by ian dooley on Unsplash

We know Condoleeza Rice as a world-class diplomat who served multiple administrations. But did you know she nearly became a concert pianist? A New York Times profile in 2006 describes her talent:

Ms. Rice is an accomplished pianist. At 15 she performed Mozart's Piano Concerto in D minor with the Denver Symphony Orchestra, her prize for winning a student competition. Until college she intended to pursue music professionally.

In her memoir, No Higher Honor, Rice wrote of the choice she faced in college. Does she pursue music as a career or does she pursue her growing interest in foreign policy and statecraft? At this crossroads, Rice chose the diplomatic path, but it was a tough choice. And yet music, both in public and in private, is also a big part of her life. Here she is playing with famed violinist Yo-Yo Ma at the Kennedy Center:

None of us, of course, will have the career of Condoleeza Rice, but we are often faced with similar choices when it comes to the way we think about our callings. I’ve had these conversations with dozens of young people lately here at Texas Baptist College and in other settings where I speak. I’m also having them in my own home with my teenage kids.

There’s a myth that your calling—that path of life where to quote Frederick Beuchner, your deep gladness and the world's deep hunger meet—is all about your paycheck. But it’s very possible that you will have more than one interest and more than one talent.