Having a hiatus from work restores – or should restore – faith in those endeavors. If the sabbatical fails to rejuvenate one’s passion for their chosen work, then the possibility of being vocationally misguided exists. And it should be a vocation. Most people think of vocation as a divine call to serve God behind a collar or under a habit. My faith leads me to believe without doubt that I have a purpose and discovering and cultivating my purpose means I am following God’s path for my life. This is not to say I am predestined. Nope. I have free will. But I have a purpose and it is through my free will that I take the basic elements given by God and forge a purpose with my life. From iron to a blade. From a seed to an oak tree. It is also my responsibility to respond and react to the variables in my world that enhance, threaten or alter my existence. The seed cannot control rain fall or harsh winter. But like the cypress trees along California’s coast that adapts to the buffeting winds from the oceans racing up the hillside, so must each of us make the very best of our circumstance and know – without doubt – that we have a purpose, a meaning, VALUE. The beauty resides in how we adapt and thrive in our circumstances.