vocation and avocation

But yeild who will to their separation
My object of living is to unite
My avocation and my vocation
As my two eyes make one  in sight.
Only where love and need are one,
And the work is play for mortal stakes
Is the deed ever really done
For Heaven and the future's sakes.

I first came across Robert Frosts "Two Tramps in Mud Time" quote in a novel by one of my all-time favorite authors, Madeline L'Engle. It has stuck with me through many years. How many of us get to merge our vocation with our avocation in life? How do we make our need and our love merge into one thing? Is work play? For what stake?

I am blessed. Truly. I have found play in work in almost every job I have held. I have been had the oppurtunity to meet and work with some amazing people, in jobs ranging from food service to cashiering to cleaning kennels to preping cadavers in anatomy lab.

Being  a veterinarian for me combines love and need, avocation with vocation. I love the pets, I enjoy their people. I make a living taking care of them both. How cool is that? And how rare.

Now, I'm not going to tell you that there aren't rough days. Days that I question what I am doing or how well I am doing it. Days I wish I was making more money. We all have those. But overall, I love what I do.

My current avocation is in acupuncture. I am amazed at the effects we can get from placement of some small needles- pain releif, relaxation, appetite stimulation. And practicing in the pet's own homes gives me the unique ability to really spend time with both the pets and their people. I get to really know tham, spend more thatn a few minutes in a sterile environment with them. And make a positive change in their lives. These are the stakes, and I do it for heaven and the future's sake.

I expect I will have posts in the future that are pretty technical, discussing acupuncture in depth and the scientific justification for it. But for today just a bit of introspection. How about you? Do you do what you love, love what you do?