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Allison Collins

Dr. Chase

Senior Seminar

10 February 2017

Vocational Principles Essay

In the socioeconomic environment that I was raised in college did not

feel like a choice or a privilege but rather an expectation. A young person

makes it through high school and they are expected to go away to a top

university where they will spend their next four years. It effectively puts off

the impending severance from mom and dads wallet, but beyond the social

expectation and the effort to delay real-life why do we shell out a couple

hundred thousand dollars to these institutions? For me, college has been an

invaluable experience that has served not only to educate me in the

scholarly sense but has also taught me about who I am, what I value, and the

frame with which I want to enter the next chapter of my life.

While I have always enjoyed learning, and gaining knowledge the

classroom is not always a context that evokes excitement and passion for

me. I tend to be more of a social learner. I could listen to someone I care

about teach me about what interests them and what they are passionate

about for hours and truly be engaged and learning. There are times though

that I become bogged down from the obligations of the classroom. Wheaton

has taught me to see past the busy work and to internalize the merit of the

liberal arts education. I first began to develop this understanding in my BITH

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111 class the first semester of my freshmen year. In that class I wrote my

first of many integration of faith and learning papers. While I admittedly was

writing what I thought the professor wanted to hear I realized that I was

coming to understand and believed what I putting down on paper. One of the

assigned readings for that course was Engaging Gods Word by Cornelius

Plantinga. In this work Plantinga makes the claim that both Scripture and

science reveal Gods nature and interests (23-24). What Plantinga

understood and what he (and Dr. Lauber) was teaching me was that as we

pursue academic knowledge we gain a fuller picture of the creator of all

things. Cultivating this mindset allowed me to see my life and work as a

student as worship.

This lesson was reinforced as I fulfilled my general education science

requirements. I was struck by the biology devotionals that my classmates

shared. One that particularly stuck out to me discussed the biological

properties of water and related it to the biblical analogy of Christ as living

water giving it more depth and meaning. In Theories of Origins the five

professors who taught the course were able to shed light on how in the

beginning God created. These individuals were each experts in a different

discipline but through their study they were able to better understand, and

to teach us more about the character that God displayed in creating the

world. This experience exemplified how the pursuit of knowledge can expose

a fuller picture of who God is. By pursuing knowledge, we can pursue God

and grow in relationship with him.

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Just as these professors were able faithfully follow Gods call in their

lives to pursue a relationship with Him through their vocational work so can I

apply this to my future career. I dont know what that career is going to look

like, but my education at Wheaton has equipped me to glorify God in

whatever field he calls me to. Outside of the classroom my involvement in

athletics as a member of the cross country and track teams has been

formative in developing this principle within me. For me, running has an

uncanny ability to teach me life lessons. As I have wrestled through the highs

and lows that come with the sport, God has been teaching me that success

as the world defines it does not necessarily glorify God. Something that we

say in the huddle before every race is Give what Gods given you today.

Nothing more, nothing less. This reminds us that God will be pleased with

our efforts if we do our best with the gifts he has given us. But like Coach

Bradley says God did not distribute the goods evenly. Comparing yourself to

others will not get you anywhere and will not be glorifying to God.

This is a principle that I will need to guide the rest of my life whether

it be in work or family life. To be faithful to Gods call is to work at what you

do to the best of your ability with the aim to exhibit a Christ like attitude in

your workplace. It is my belief that it is important to think outwardly in

matters of vocation. Though he does not exercise a Christian worldview,

Stephen Hartnett captures this idea well in his article Communication, Social

Justice, and Joyful Commitment (68-93). He condemns his fellow academics

who strive for heroic triumph and focus on making their publications so
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convoluted that people can hardly read them. He argues that instead of

competing to be seen as having the most educational prowess the, the

communication scholar should instead make a difference. Hartnett

committed to this in his own life and set an example for others to follow.

The call that he took on and in turn calls others to do as well is to make

a joyful commitment to social justice. He constructs this term from the

words of Dr. Martin Luther King responding to his call to conduct political

projects from a place of over-flowing love (Hartnett 71). Hartnett made a

joyful commitment in his own life to teach communication to individuals in

prison. He realized that many of the young people who ended up in prison

may have avoided that outcome if they had been able to communicate

effectively so he decided to do something about it. He recognized a need

that he was equipped to fill and did just that. His example is inspiring and I

believe that to faithfully follow Gods call in my life I should similarly make

my vocation outward facing.

Perhaps the most difficult part of my college career was the time I

spent studying abroad at LCC University in Klaipeda, Lithuania. It seems that

some of the greatest lessons are learned through hardship and this

experience provided evidence to that effect. At Wheaton, I felt that God had

provided me with great friends and teammates to share my time here with.

As an institution Wheaton stresses the importance of community and I had

thought I understood what that meant and how it applied to me. While I

knew that I would miss being present with those I cared about I thought that
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I was a fairly independent person and didnt worry too much about going

abroad. The experience I had while away hit home for me the importance of

community, and the role it plays in my life. In the classroom, I had analyzed

the dynamics of my social network (Intro to Sociology) and studied the

effects that team cohesion can have on performance, but suddenly all the

stats and facts I had learned came to life. Because of this experience I know I

will be vigilant in seeking a life-giving community to invest in no matter

where I find myself in the future.

As a student studying communication you hear often that you cannot,

not communicate. The validity of this statement demonstrates the value of

being an effective communicator. I believe that to be a faithful communicator

one must strive to effectively communicate in love. Both experientially and

academically the effectiveness of my communication skills has been

continuously shaped during my time at Wheaton. The study of

communication theories created not only a greater understanding of

effective communication but also conveyed practical means to communicate

more effectively. As we learned the terms and scholarship behind each

theory, our application logs allowed us to understand how those principles

worked in everyday life. Seeing what was in the textbook played out in

everyday life provided models that taught me to utilize the principles of the

theories to enhance my effectiveness as a communicator.

It is my belief that to love people well we must be able to communicate

effectively. It is important to be able to articulate what needs to be said in a

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way that the other understands and gleans your intended meaning from. I

think that God calls us to communicate with one another in love and the best

way to ensure this is to communicate effectively. Certainly, at times we will

fail and hurt others in the way we communicate and they will do the same,

but then we must understand how to communicate forgiveness. In the

course I took on reconciliation and conflict resolution, we discussed and

studied what it meant to be reconciled to another and how to facilitate that

through our efforts in communication. Through reflection on narratives of

forgiveness we were challenged to craft our own theology of forgiveness. The

Bible is clear that God calls us to forgive and be reconciled so that we be

brought back into feeling the fullness of his love. Kelley and Waldron in their

article on forgiveness point out that the people we cherish most are also

those we hurt most deeply (2005). To maintain these relationships when

there is hurt there must be forgiveness seeking communication such as an

explicit acknowledgement, a nonverbal assurance, or an explanation. When

these measures are executed effectively relationships can be restored and

maintained.

Relationships do not always look the same. As we engage with those

around us we will encounter diversity of background, race, religious

affiliation, ability, and culture. Braithwaite and Braithwaite provide a useful

perspective on communicating with diversity in their article on

communicating with people who have disabilities (470-481). They point out

the importance of recognizing the cultural differences between you and the
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person you are communicating with. They underscore the importance of

developing intercultural principles to use in communication with both

disabled and nondisabled people.

The time that I spent abroad allowed me to cultivate and exercise my

intercultural communication skills. I think that as Braithwaite and Braithwaite

point out intercultural communication skills do not only apply to people who

come from another country. There are people of different cultures all around

us including those with disabilities, different religious affiliations, different

home-lives, or someone who simply grew up in a different neighborhood. In

the organizational communication class that I took abroad the professor

believed the we would best learn about the communication practices of

organizations through experiential and process learning. All the course work

was completed in groups which caused us to learn about the communication

of an organization from our participation in our classroom organizations. It

was his philosophy that the most valuable learning was in the process rather

than the literature or the product.

It was uncomfortable and challenging to communicate and work with

people from all different background in a group where members had side

conversations in three different languages but it was an incredible learning

opportunity. I learned how to be diplomatic and culturally sensitive in the

way I listened to and responded to input from group members. This

experience also taught me about the importance of leadership within a

group.
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While the cynic would argue the we pay all this money to universities

for a piece of paper and a credential, I would contest that there is so much

more to be said for living for four years in a community of young scholars.

Both in and out of the classroom what I have learned is shaping principles

that will carry the rest of my life. I now understand the importance of

community, I am cultivating a desire and understanding of what it means to

glorify God in my career, and I am equipped to be a more effective

communicator and as such to show Gods love. My time at Wheaton allowed

me to gain knowledge through a Christian worldview and to be mentored and

taught by Godly men and women and the formation that I have experienced

here is invaluable.
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Works Cited

Braithwaite, Dawn, and Charles Braithwaite. Which Is My Good Leg?:

Cultural Communication of People With Disabilities. Bridges Not Walls.

Reading, Mass: Addison-Wesley Pub. Co, 1977. Print.

Hartnett, Stephen J. "Communication, Social Justice, and Joyful

Commitment." Western Journal of Communication. 74.1 (2010): 68-93.

Internet resource.

Kelley, Douglas, and Vincent Waldron. "An Investigation of Forgiveness-

Seeking Communication and Relational Outcomes." Communication

Quarterly. 53.3 (2005): 339-358. Internet resource.

Plantinga, Cornelius. Engaging God's World: A Christian Vision of Faith,

Learning, and Living. Grand Rapids, Michigan: W.B. Eerdmans, 2002.

Print.