Where Can I Do the Most Good?

Where Can I Do the Most Good?

by JC Finley '00

In the cold, wintry beginnings of the new year, we may quickly dispose of well-intentioned resolutions in favor of the ease and normalcy of resuming our daily routine. And yet, in those resolutions, perhaps there was an underlying yearning for something more, something unrealized.

"Be who you are and be it well." In those eight simple and familiar words, St. Francis de Sales reminds us to live each day authentically as the best version of ourselves that we can be.

In an age of on-line quizzes, life coaches, and self-branding, we have many ways to "be you." But to go deeper requires an honest assessment and awareness not only of ourselves and our unique gifts, but an openness to hear and respond to God's desires for us.

What are we being called do? In other words, what's our purpose?

The answer may not be easy or even clear, and in fact it may be that God is calling us to be different things to different people at different times. I think of God's will for me as a jigsaw puzzle with many pieces. I'm not entirely sure of the image it will reveal but I have faith that in putting those pieces on the table and fitting what I can together, I am moving closer to completion.

"We all have a vocation," St. Francis tells us. "We believe that God has placed us in this life to fill a special need that no one else can accomplish."

When I was discerning my career path in my early 20s, my father posed a question that he had asked himself: Where can I do the most good? It was a question that steered him throughout his life, and one that has since steered mine.

I've answered that question several times at different points in my life: first by joining the US Government, eager to contribute to our nation's first line of defense after 9/11; then as a world news journalist seeking to make complex issues more accessible; and for the past two years as a government contractor trying to alleviate some of the suffering inside Syria.

Through these various jobs, there has been a constant: I believe I was where God meant me to be. The jigsaw puzzle pieces fit.

But life is changing and complex, and so too can be our calling.

While our New Year's resolutions may be waning or entirely discarded, St. Francis cheers us on with words of encouragement: "we must have courage and patience."

Let's embrace this time of year as an opportunity to recognize our own imperfections, our gifts, God's intentions for us, and remember to ask ourselves: