Depending on how you say it, this is either a flat affirmation, made to head off any discussion-the perfect wall-or a mild objection. Or it might be an agonizing realization that our ways are not his ways, much to our chagrin.

Whatever it is, it brings home to us the truth that a vocation is not of our making, while we do have a big part in following it.

When we have other plans and the vocation is wedging its way in there too, or when the order is reversed-we are almost deciding on the vocation and then other plans try to get in the way-it is very much worth our while to ask ourselves a few questions about them, their substance, their worth, and our real commitment to them.

what plans?

Our other plans come in all shapes and sizes, ranging from the specific to the vague, from the feasible to the utopian.

When we use them to stymie a vocation, we tend to emphasize their positive side and value, and our altruistic motives for preferring them. While at the moment of decision they may be presented as the most important thing in life for us, I have found that the personal plans that were the reason for not following a vocation often are abandoned afterwards at the drop of a hat. The prudent lesson to be learnt is to be a little more critical in our approach.

Define the plans that militate against your vocation, and ask yourself if you are sincerely committed to fulfilling them. What are you really prepared to do for them? Asking this question will help you see if they are something you are taking in earnest of if they are only an excuse.

This is not to say that earnest plans are a sign the vocation does not exist, but it does help us see how seriously we should look at them. You should not waste time on those that are vague and insubstantial. The earnest ones have to be treated differently.

why?

These plans, or ideas, or dreams may have come to us for a number of reasons.

A few may be authentic vocations in themselves and point to what God wants in our lives. These have to be respected.

Most are the normal hopes and desires any healthy person develops for his life as he gets to know himself and his capabilities. What they are is of secondary importance; the main question is whether they point to what God wants me to do, or if they are what he is asking me to give up in order to do what he really wants.

Some are cop-outswhen we cannot handle the reality we have in front of us we escape into a fantasy world.

Every vocation or ambition has a certain degree of fantasy to it. This is not as bad as it sounds. It is a process that starts in childhood, in which we role-play at grown-ups, and it can have very beneficial effects. It helps us dream and raise our sights.

But then there are some people who never make the adjustment to reality, applying their desire to be something better and bigger to the concrete situation in which they find themselves. Instead of having goals that are reachable though difficult (the kid who wants that sports scholarship and is out there every day pounding the track) they live in a fantasy world, generally a world in which their dreams are totally out of proportion to what they are prepared to put into making them happen.

The Gospel tells us to be realistic in what we undertake: when you are going out on a venturebuilding a building--first check and see if you have the wherewithal to finish, you wouldnt want the cornerstone of the unfinished eyesore to say the folly was yours

But we are not at the mercy of low impact dreams. We can aspire to what is noble, we can make choices that go beyond the limits set by purely human ambition or our own unaided means.

avoiding the dream market

Beware of the think yourself rich approach, whether with your other plans or with your vocation. The number of millionaires in the country is not in proportion to the number of books or tapes sold. Great things may start wit the first idea or dream, but then they require dedication.

If you are thinking that our salvation and the redemption of sins is the perfect dream, something we get for free and wonderful in itself, youre right, but that is not everything since we have to make up what is lacking to the passion of Christ. Once redeemed we have to live up to it, and we need to carry our cross to do so, and to be worthy of Christ. If we do not fill our lives with good works done in grace we can expect to have seven other spirits more evil than the first come back to take over in our house.

While it is healthy to be skeptical of the effortless gain-without-pain approach, we should not fall into another skepticism. We know there are things which seem impossible to us that Christ nevertheless asks of us. He is not expecting us to be unrealistic, but he does expect us to take into account the whole reality, remembering that such things are impossible for man, but for God everything is possible.

So when you have other plans ask yourself what they are, to make sure they're not just an escapist fantasy, and that you are not treating Christs call as one either.

where from?

Some of these other plans are planted n our minds by others. We have all heard the story of the parent who drives the kid to be what he himself never could be, or the normal kid whose dada happens to be famous, and he spends his life trying to live up to that. However, those are the rare cases.

Sometimes they come from vague wishful thinking, and more often than not the individual involved realizes when it is do. Sometimes they come from a realization of your talents and real possibilities. This makes them attractive and challenging, and then the individual with a vocation realizes that perhaps letting go of them is the price Christ is asking him to pay in order to come follow him.

Another very real source of our other plans is the world, which tells us what we should seek and how we should find our happiness. Ask yourself, Are your other plans worldly? Are they centered on material success only? Is their goal to gain the whole world? Have your soul and the souls of the others entered into the picture?

their value

If you are struggling wit this clash between your plans and Gods possible call, it may be helpful to ask yourself which has more eternal value, the vocation God may be offering you and its fruits, or your plans and their fruits.

But the only merit of this approach is that as you make your reflection, you may hear God speaking to your heart. For you are not trying to work out what calling is best in itself, but which one is best for you because it is what God wants of you. Ask for the help of the Holy Spirit, and by doing your thinking, give him a chance to speak. Thats not as paradoxical as it sounds.