Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
Ability Is Not Vocation
41 Plays2 hours ago
“Ability is not vocation. Abilities are tools for vocation.”
Ability Is Not Vocation
What if ability is simply a tool—one that God shapes, deepens, stretches, and even redirects over a lifetime? If you’ve ever felt pressured to “stay in your lane,” doubted whether you’re on the right path, or confused your gift with your calling, this episode will help you breathe again. Discover a more spacious, wise-hearted way of understanding your vocation—one rooted in freedom, not fear.
Helpful Resources:
- Download your FREE Vocation Trap Tracker: www.soulmakers.org/bemakedo
- Discover Your Artist Archetype → Take the Free Quiz at soulmakers.org
- Download the Full Artist Archetypes Guide for deeper insight: www.soulmakers.org/bemakedo
- Read the article, Vocation's Unbroken Chain: Biblical Call Stories and the
Experience of Vocation by Chris Keeton
Connect & Share: - Subscribe to Be. Make. Do. for more in the Vocation Traps series
- Share this episode with a friend or creative you know
- Join the conversation on socials using #VocationTrapsPodcast
- Join our brand new Instagram Broadcast Channel!
Be. Make. Do. is going LIVE! on February 10th!
Join us Tuesday, February 10th, at 3 pm EST for an exciting, interactive discussion with Dan and Lisa. They’ll be wrapping up The Vocation Traps series of the podcast, answering your questions, and hearing from you! Register Here!
Up Next: Join us as we explore the flip side of the coin and bust free from feelings of inadequacy.
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction to Be Make Do Podcast
00:00:00
Speaker
What does it look like to operate, create, and live from a freedom mindset instead of the traps we too often get stuck in? What does it look like to live unstuck? Where does your brain need to go instead of the fears and misleading questions in the vocation traps?
00:00:28
Speaker
Hello, welcome back to Be Make Do, a Soulmakers podcast, where we explore what it takes to live out your call in the arts with spiritual wholeness and creative freedom.
00:00:39
Speaker
I'm your host, Lisa Smith, here with my producer, Danny BH. Hello, everyone. And it is our passion to encourage you to become who you were created to be, make what you were created to make, and do what you were created to do.
Understanding Vocation Traps
00:00:54
Speaker
So far this season in the Be Make Do podcast, we've been exploring the vocation traps, those sneaky mindset detours that can derail your sense of purpose. And all of us get stuck, and at least one, probably many of these traps at different times. So identifying them, being aware of them and what's behind them can help us get unstuck and hopefully stay unstuck for good.
00:01:19
Speaker
So previously, we've talked about the security trap, the happiness trap, the hero trap, and the chosen trap. This episode is called Ability is Not Vocation, and we're going to start talking about how we get out and stay out of these vocation traps by focusing on what to do and the mindsets and concrete practices that we need to be in.
00:01:43
Speaker
I'm going to share some things I've learned from a wonderful article on calling by Chris Keaton called Vocations Unbroken Chain and explore some biblical icons who emulate these trap busters. And we'll talk a little bit about our own experiences and what we've observed in the lives of creatives that we know.
00:02:00
Speaker
Let's get started. Let's do it.
Developing Skills for Your Calling
00:02:13
Speaker
Now, I just want to remind you, as you go through the Escaping the Vocation Trap series, we've created a vocation trap tracker specifically designed to help you identify what's tripping you up. Now, you can download it for free and follow along as we go through the season. You'll be able to identify your traps and use the prompts and exercises to go deeper and find true freedom in your work and life.
00:02:37
Speaker
You can find our vocation trap tracker at soulmakers.org slash be make do or in our show notes.
00:02:52
Speaker
All along in this series of the vocation traps, we've talked about how to get out through faithful action. In the next few episodes, we're going to zoom in on what this looks like practically.
00:03:03
Speaker
So a common theme among the traps is fixation on our abilities or our inabilities. But ability is not vocation.
00:03:14
Speaker
Abilities are tools for vocation. That's a quote from Chris Keaton, one of the articles that I referenced earlier. Ability is not vocation. Abilities are tools for vocation.
00:03:27
Speaker
So one of the practical to-dos is to embrace a proper view of ability, one where abilities are simply tools to be developed over time in service to whatever we're called to. So instead of it being an indication of our calling or our calling in and of itself, it's just simply a tool that we use in service to to whatever we're called to make and do.
00:03:53
Speaker
So I'd say like an example of this, of of relying on your ability, forming your identity around that is I i personally, i was trained as an actor. That's what I started out to do. And then at a certain point, I started feeling called to do other things as well and sort of circumstances and chances putting me in other other um areas and spheres and having new opportunities. And at a certain point, I started thinking, wait, what am i am I on track or am I off track? Because I'm not doing i'm not solely focused on acting.
00:04:26
Speaker
But what was happening was I was developing other skills, and those skills that I had learned as an actor were coming into play in a new way. So these are tools that are being used in service to lots of different things, depending on where where I'm being led, because our the things that we are called to do change over the course of our lifetime.
00:04:48
Speaker
Lisa, yeah I have a clarification question. Yeah. Are we saying that natural ability is the same as vocation or or it can be seen that way sometimes? Yeah.
00:05:02
Speaker
No. Okay. So when I'm talking about natural ability, I just mean those things that you're kind of naturally good at, the stuff that you're you're born with. So like ah for you, you know something you are just naturally good at is making people feel welcomed and loved and encouraged and included. And that is something that just comes easy to you.
00:05:26
Speaker
No problem. You can apply that in any situation anywhere. And it's a very good thing. However, as you moved into leadership roles, not just friendship, but leadership roles or collaboration, like you're doing collaboration with your band, you also have to develop the kind of parallel skill of being able to voice where you disagree with people or to push back on things that are not good, you know, or to...
00:05:54
Speaker
ask more of people than maybe they want to give. So you have to develop the abilities to to sit with people not being happy with you, not being okay, not feeling included in that moment.
Leadership and Skill Development
00:06:08
Speaker
But because you also have this natural ability, you can hone that so that you can do these harder things in a way that's still loving, still inclusive, those kinds of things. So so that's what we're talking about is we have natural abilities that And if we just stick with what's easy about it, then it's one thing. But we need to actually take that up to the next level and develop that even more and be willing to learn skills and abilities that are harder for us in order to be ready to move into spaces that where we can work with more people, have more influence, um maybe just be better at what we're doing and be able to realize the vision that's in our hearts, if that makes sense.
00:06:52
Speaker
Now, it makes total sense. And it it makes me think of like, speaking for myself, that's those were the parts where I grew, where where I matured, right? Like, so going back to that maturity, that was grown or learned through those hardships of, I don't just have to be nice and take care of these people. They're not specifically my responsibility, but leading and those hardships of leading were what you know made me grow.
00:07:25
Speaker
know what I mean? Yeah. Yeah. and An interesting um little example, somebody that I learned about, Vera Wang, who I only ever have thought of as a wedding dress designer. But she's she's somebody just like that. who started She started out as an ice skater. She was ah she competed or she actually tried out for the Olympics,
00:07:47
Speaker
as an ice skater, but she didn't make it. Then she went into publishing and wasn't able to succeed as far as she wanted to before she finally went into fashion. And I can only imagine that every step along the way, she was learning skills that helped her to realize her creative vision, not the least of which being perseverance and learning to overcome difficult circumstances. So she's a great example of this, allowing your skills and abilities to be developed over time and for new skills and abilities, the circumstances that you're in to build new capacity towards things that maybe you can't even imagine right now. Instead of getting stuck, ah getting discouraged ah or being put into a little box just shaped by what you're naturally good at.
00:08:42
Speaker
The problem with relying on our natural abilities to tell us about our calling is we can stay stuck only doing what comes easy or gets quickly rewarded. This may remind you of the security trap.
00:08:54
Speaker
Oh, yeah. Yeah. that's That's the one about mistaking validation for purpose. That's right. I've never done that before. ah Right. Right.
00:09:07
Speaker
yeah Yes, that is the security trap, the one that tempts you to stick with what you know or gets easy approval. But the problem there is that it is a great excuse to avoid risk, which ends up stifling the freedom to make mistakes and to grow.
Faith, Risk, and Growth
00:09:24
Speaker
So ultimately, that means we don't develop our abilities to the fullest or move beyond our natural gifts to things we've maybe never even considered that God has waiting for us, waiting to blow our minds and bless all kinds of people.
00:09:38
Speaker
So we're going to see in all of the biblical stories we look at that it's normal to go through seasons where it looks like we're not accomplishing anything, maybe even looking like we're just completely washed out, or we have to where we have to sacrifice comfort and success to achieve our goals.
00:09:55
Speaker
But true success and faithfulness can only come through risk. And risk requires learning to accept failure and rejection and the humility of imperfection as a normal part of life. All of these are a part of developing and deepening ability.
00:10:15
Speaker
The story of Joseph in Genesis is a great biblical icon for moving from seeing ability as vocation to ability as a tool to be developed and discipled.
00:10:27
Speaker
You can pause here and go read it if you need to refresh your memory. It's found in Genesis 37 to 50. Joseph learned the hard way that just because you have special talents doesn't mean you know how to use them or that you should use them. In the beginning of the story, we find him stuck, I think, in the security trap. In fact, he didn't know how to use his gifts properly at all.
00:10:51
Speaker
From the beginning, Joseph had it good. He was living the good life. He had prophetic dreams, and his father's favoritism came easily to him. And while Joseph had powerful dreams, he didn't know where they came from. He didn't know how to interpret them. He didn't know what they were for.
00:11:08
Speaker
In many respects, Joseph's natural gifts actually became setbacks to his calling because he lacked the maturity to use them in service to something greater.
00:11:19
Speaker
So ironically, if Joseph had been allowed to stay at home, he would never have experienced the setbacks, the mistakes, and failures that actually allowed him to develop the skills necessary to fulfill his calling.
00:11:32
Speaker
Joseph developed wisdom and maturity after he was sold into slavery by his brothers, falsely accused, sentenced to prison, forgotten, and overlooked.
00:11:44
Speaker
He experienced so many setbacks— But in his story, we learn that setbacks and circumstances aren't necessarily permanent deviations from the journey. Instead, they can actually become part of the journey itself.
00:11:58
Speaker
His ah abilities were actually honed in hardship. There's no way that Joseph could have understood what God was doing with him. The magnitude of the task for which God was preparing him would have been overwhelming if he had known that when he was a young boy.
00:12:16
Speaker
He needed to learn to trust God and have a solid character, and he needed to develop important skills before he could be placed in the position God had for him.
00:12:27
Speaker
Well, first thing that comes to mind is that wasn't very nice of Joseph's brothers to do that. It was not very nice of Joseph's brothers to do that. But in their defense, Joseph was a little stinker.
00:12:41
Speaker
Yeah. He was constantly tattling on them and telling in them all these great dreams he had where they're all going to bow down to him. He was he was a little little bit I'm father's best.
00:12:54
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. Father's best. Yeah. his Father wasn't very helpful in that either. Huh? No, I guess not. Yeah. He was daddy's favorite. So he was getting away with a lot and he was really leaning into it. That's how it seems in the story. He was really leaning into that favorite status and kind of taking advantage of it.
00:13:09
Speaker
And here's what's interesting. Through all of those difficult circumstances, who does Joseph become? When Pharaoh calls him into this position of leadership, he says he wants to appoint a discerning and wise man, one in whom is the Spirit of God.
00:13:27
Speaker
So because of the way Joseph faced the challenges and because he was willing to be faithful to God and allow himself to be refined in the process, in the end, Joseph was prepared to be in a space of power in order to give life and give forgiveness instead of doing what might have come more naturally of taking revenge or hoarding power that could have easily happened.
00:13:57
Speaker
But God leads Joseph on this wise-hearted path, and he goes from someone who sticks his foot in his mouth and looks out primarily for himself to someone who's capable and qualified to manage all of Egypt.
00:14:12
Speaker
In fact, you could argue that his actual standout ability ended up being administration. So through Joseph's faithfulness to God and integrity, he was able to develop and use his abilities in multiple ways.
00:14:26
Speaker
The story of Joseph shows us that vocation and ability are not necessarily the same thing. So what are some examples of of how we could think of this in the creative life?
00:14:37
Speaker
Like people who've developed skills and talents over long periods of time, like um like Vera Wang. I think about the character Jo in the book Little Women by Louisa May Alcott. And i I really wonder if there's a part of her own life as a writer that this this mirrors. But in the book, Jo is becoming a writer, finding her own voice, and she stumbles into being able to publish a story in a magazine. And she gets paid for it. And she really enjoys it. And so she starts publishing more and finding that the juicy stories... are more likely to get published than the stories where she has a point of view and something to say and wants to do something edifying for people.
00:15:18
Speaker
And so she's publishing these stories, but at some point she's challenged that she should be using her gifts more appropriately, that she's capable of more than just what comes easy and is giving her an easy reward.
00:15:34
Speaker
So she's she's successful publishing these little juicy stories, but they have no substance. And she had to confront her desire to be successful against her character. And she stopped writing those and ended up writing really great, amazing things.
00:15:48
Speaker
One thing that comes up for me from that little women example was this idea of like all the traps that we get into like in those like early successful years or early years, especially when like speaking for a friend, you know, where everything just is like going super well, like early on and like, let's say like their music career. i'm not talking about me, but my friend and everything is like,
00:16:15
Speaker
like going well, but like you're not really making great art. You're not really, it doesn't feel like at the time it does because you're lacking a little bit of like cutting your teeth you're you're lacking a little bit of that creative maturity. Definitely, this friend was definitely lacking spiritual maturity. you know But then like later on in life, it's sort of like they pivot. like You pivot a little bit, like whether that's vocation pivot or ability pivot. you know
00:16:47
Speaker
For me, it was like I was a songwriter, producer, guitar player. But then I realized that I love playing drums and I love being the beat, the heartbeat, if you will.
00:16:59
Speaker
And in my 20s, I never would think of myself as a heartbeat. But later on, as I matured, it felt like, well, I'm pivoting not because I'm bored with what I was doing. There's just like there's this change where it's like maybe I was just doing sort of what in the Little Women author was doing, which is writing ah smutty, juicy, easy things. Yeah.
00:17:25
Speaker
and And maybe I was just yeah ah writing like pretty straightforward pop punk stuff. And then later on, it's sort of like I was writing more, well, first of all, in a collaboration setting as opposed to yourself. And then realize I like being in the collaboration a circle way more than I like being in the solo circle and bringing it to people.
00:17:47
Speaker
i want to bring it all together. You know what I mean? So yeah, that that just reminds me of that. Yeah. And I see that with you as such a culmination too, because you have this other side of you, which is, you know, gathering people together and com community, like the collaboration piece makes a lot of sense. And I just want to say or point out that that beginning part of writing those songs and um you know, playing yourself and that kind of stuff. That is all part of that make, you know, you are showing up faithfully to develop your skills as you knew how to do. and it's through that process that your musicianship continues to grow. So then you're like, your desire for it grows because you understand it, you can use it in a different way. And so you want to
00:18:36
Speaker
expand your your horizons for that. And that's what this whole
Embracing Spiritual Maturity in Crafting
00:18:41
Speaker
thing is. like As you are becoming who you're created to be, as you're giving more and more of yourself into that God space to be transformed, as you are giving you're putting yourself in that, making what you were created to make, you're spending the time developing your skills, practicing, writing, developing your craft— That do what you're created to do changes many times over the course of our lifetime. And we don't even always, we talk about it a lot, we don't even know always what that impact might be.
00:19:13
Speaker
It may be that you know something you create is meaningful to this person here and this person here, you know whatever. But the important thing is that being faithful then allows you to move into Whatever that new sphere, to be flexible, to be free.
00:19:30
Speaker
So that's what we're advocating for here in our to-do is embracing a proper view of ability where we are using our abilities as tools that we recognize need to be constantly sharpened and developed with spiritual maturity.
00:19:48
Speaker
They're developed in humility and faithfulness. We see in Joseph's story, it's not just developing the ability, but developing the ability to use those gifts in a disciplined and discerning way.
00:20:03
Speaker
And I'm really grateful that we're talking about ability because it brings us right back to the wise-hearted ones, the artists and craftspeople in Exodus who were called to construct the tabernacle.
00:20:15
Speaker
They're called, literally, it's translated wise-hearted ones. And in most Bibles, it would be translated as skilled or skilled craftspeople or artisans.
00:20:26
Speaker
But because it's written that way, that wise-hearted ones, there's a sense in which the skill is not just mere ability. It's skill that's that's been ripened, deepened. It's a kind of wisdom The Bible says in Exodus that they were given extraordinary ability or skill in creating things.
00:20:48
Speaker
But it wasn't just technical skills. It says they were given the gift of the Spirit in wisdom, like insight or know-how, and in understanding, which is like discernment or taste.
00:21:02
Speaker
And in knowledge, knowledge meaning it like it becomes a part of you, like you really get it. And then craftsmanship, which is mastery and innovation and real partnership with God. That's a wise-hearted way.
00:21:17
Speaker
You could think of it like um an example would be learning music, learning to play music. Like you start out learning the scales, learning notes, maybe learning to read music or to hear music. You get a feel for the keys and or or how you put your mouth or whatever it is you know for the instrument itself.
00:21:38
Speaker
that's That's the wisdom. And then understanding you start to play. Maybe you can play some music, play a song that somebody else has written Get a feel for, like, I can actually get a song out that somebody recognizes.
00:21:51
Speaker
And then moving to knowledge, like, you actually develop a facility for it where you are making music and it becomes part of you. There's an expression that's also being added and coming out from you that then goes and touches other people.
00:22:05
Speaker
And finally, going to craftsmanship, that mastery where... It takes on a life of its own. We all know, we've heard pieces of music where it's way more than just the notes that are being played. There's a magic and a craft, something God, you know, the the Spirit is infusing that whole thing.
00:22:24
Speaker
That's that's the the wise-hearted way of creating. That's the wisdom journey that God is bringing us on in life and in our craft. So that's the practicality of it, developing those skills slowly over time, but also with this discipleship mindset that we're allowing God to work in every circumstance and every area of our lives to hone these abilities.
00:22:51
Speaker
So instead of chasing what comes easy, we become dedicated to constantly developing, risking, and growing regardless of our circumstances, just like Joseph.
00:23:04
Speaker
Being faithful to nurture and develop your gifts, but also being willing to stretch and risk going past your comfort zone, allowing God to deepen your wisdom, deepen your knowledge, understanding, and craftsmanship.
Invitation to New Course
00:23:21
Speaker
And while we're on the subject, this spring, we're going to be launching a course for the wise hearted ones where we have time over a couple of weeks to meet together and talk about this wise hearted way and start to find ways to implement this in our lives. So be on the lookout. If you're not on our email list yet, be sure to sign up so you can get information once registration opens.
00:23:44
Speaker
Next time on the Be Make Do podcast, we'll look at the other side of the coin and examine how to handle when we're really feeling in our lack of ability. Those times when our feelings of inadequacy threaten to shut us down.
00:23:58
Speaker
We'll look at God's surprising responses to our self-doubt and explore how to reshape our mindset, ground our identity, and remember that God always equips those He calls.
00:24:11
Speaker
Thanks for listening. Join us on February 10th, 2026 for a Be Make Do live conversation with host Lisa Smith, me, Dan ABH, and you are Be Make Do, a Soulmakers podcast community. Register now by heading to soulmakers.org backslash be make do or find the link in this episode show notes.
00:24:34
Speaker
We can't wait to meet and talk with you. See you soon.