“At thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore” (Ps. 16: 11)
Growing Dominion, Part 54
Vocation is important in business, and when a man is called to his profession, one of the things that develops over time is expertise. “Seest thou a man diligent in his business? he shall stand before kings; he shall not stand before mean men” (Prov. 22:29). But in these egalitarian times, we sometimes have trouble with the idea of such expertise.
But even egalitarians politely allow the experts to do their job when it comes to flying jet airplanes, or treating traumatic medical injuries (the kind when the bone is sticking out), or casting microsoft demons out of your hard drive. But egalitarianism does want to “level” the playing field at every plausible opportunity-and this is a functional denial of the idea of calling (as well as a denial of the related concept of community). It is fine to be a weekend warrior with your tool belt on, but don’t let it obscure the fact that a real carpenter could probably do the job twice as well, three times faster, and it wouldn’t fall down afterwards. This is because he is called to such tasks by God. It is fine for moms to trade (some) home remedies, but it should not become a pretext for assuming that going to medical school was a waste of time. Doctors are to consider their calling as such-a calling before God, and not as a hobby, or something they dabble in.
Competence is a wonderful thing, and greatly to be desired. But competence in the trades and professions will not be restored the way it ought to be until we recover the notion of vocation, or calling.