Consider types of lists of ten that you could make with respect to vocation. The first list of ten would be to list ten things about which you feel best regarding your response to God’s call to this date. Do this regardless of whether you are new to the ministry or have retired. If you are new, you may want to begin when you first began to sense God’s call. Even for a person later in the ministry, that could be of value but if you have been in the ministry several years, then at least one list of ten might focus on the things that have happened during your ministry upon which you reflect with satisfaction. These are not necessarily just the public accomplishments. For example, I once intervened in a blossoming sexual scandal and because of the results, the community was saved from the pain of that event being public. Most people, thankfully, will never know about that, but I feel significant satisfaction that I was there at the time and able to intervene appropriately. You could even make two lists of ten, one identifying accomplishments in ministry about which you feel good and another, moments in ministry in which you acted in a way that were significant to you personally. These can even be negative events that occurred but your response was such that you retained a sense of dignity.
I will suggest a different list of ten regarding vocation tomorrow but in the above lists, reflect on what you have written and what it suggests about the providential hand of God in your ministry. As I have mentioned previously, making a whole list of ten in such an area forces you to probe beneath the surface. It can also be very affirming. It might even be something that you would want to preserve and return to when you are feeling down.
