The idea of a vocation retreat sounds like a contradiction in terms, but at Laity Lodge in the hill country outside San Antonio, Texas, these concepts are as intertwined as the branches of a gnarly old oak. 

I was there last weekend in my role as leadership editor of TheHighCalling.org to listen as highly accomplished business and nonprofit leaders grappled with the challenges of living out their vocational callings. 

I've offered here some words that probably should be explained, beginning with vocation, retreat and calling. 

We often think of vocation in terms of our jobs, but Laity Lodge's resident scholar Mark Roberts said the word vocation comes from the Latin vocare, which means to call or summon, so vocation and calling are roughly equivalent terms.

Perhaps it takes retreat, the act of withdrawing into safety and seclusion, to fully assess what it is we do with our days. At Laity Lodge, art, music, nature and delicious food are interspersed with thoughtful teaching to create space for people to reconsider the trajectory of their lives.

At this retreat, world class Slovakian cellist Jozef Luptak provided musical spaces in which our minds rested from the challenging principles we were exposed to and from the worries and stresses of our lives.  

Here's a bit of what I learned:

U2 lead singer Bono described himself in terms of vocation as a songwriter who tries to "tear off a little corner of the darkness," said keynote speaker Steve Garber. He didn't advertise himself as such, but someone said Garber has acted as a spiritual adviser to U2. He is director of The Washington Institute, an organization that exists to "encourage the recovery of the integral relationship of faith to vocation."

Many of us don't hold Bono's lofty view of the work we do to pay the bills, but Roberts said the idea of vocation is rooted in the book of Genesis where God commanded Adam and Eve to be fruitful, to multiply, to fill the earth, to subdue it, and to have to dominion over it. (He said the biblical word for dominion doesn't imply careless disregard, but protection and wise care.) Inherent in this command is a sense of the dignity of work.

He drew a diagram of intersecting spheres to demonstrate that the idea of vocation is larger than our work. It encompasses everything we do as humans, as people of faith, as workers, artists, neighbors, family members, friends, and more. In whatever we do, we ought to bless our little corner of the world.

The veteran Presbyterian pastor also drew from the Ephesians 4:1-6 to frame vocation. Verse one says we are to live lives worthy of our calling. Verse two says to do so with humility, gentleness, patience, and love. Roberts said calling in Scripture always implies that there is a caller, and that caller is God. The fact that we are called by God imbues our work with value, even if we're selling sundry items in a convenience store. 

In the last few years, my family, like many others, has faced considerable personal and vocational challenges, so as I listened to the speakers and panelists, I wondered how the idea of vocation relates to my suffering.

Garber taught from the book of Daniel to remind us that we live out our vocational callings amidst the mess of life. This Old Testament character sought the flourishing of his city even though he was a political prisoner. Garber said, however, that Daniel concluded his book by saying that he was perplexed. He didn't understand the ways of God.

To put it in New Testament terms, now we see reality through a dark glass, but someday God will make everything clear.

What Foundations for Laity Renewal, the organization behind Laity Lodge and The High Calling, has in mind when it advances the integration of faith and work is not methods for evangelizing coworkers. Instead the foundation begun by the founder of the HEB grocery store chain is in the business of helping people figure out how to live out the gospel of love holistically rather than compartmentalizing faith and work as activities that have nothing to do with each other. 

The retreat helped me recognize that my vocational calling is to tell stories that tear off a bit of the darkness that makes us feel alone in our pain, whatever its source. This calling is bigger than my work. My whole life is about finding and sharing illuminating candles of hope and joy in the dark corners of our world.

How about you? Have you considered your vocational calling? I'd love to hear how you think about these things.