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2025 FALL ECUMENICAL DEVOTIONAL GUIDE
What do you want to be when you grow up?
Were you asked this question when you were younger? If so, I suspect that you responded with some occupation or role from television or books-or maybe the job of a parent. For the more imaginative of us, maybe you wanted to be a superhero. Regardless of your specific answer, I am struck by how our responses circle most often around our future professions. Even now in college, many students often select their major based on a desired future career. I am not suggesting that is a bad thing but merely drawing your attention to an example of how often our culture prioritizes our identities around what we do in a professional capacity.
This worthwhile search for purpose in our professional and personal lives is a mark of our shared humanity. We strive to know the answer to the existential question, "What should I do with my life?" For those of the Christian tradition, we should also ask, how our faith intersects with this question. Does God have a defined purpose for me? What if I don't feel like God is calling me in any specific direction? How do I make decisions about the future while still practicing my faith now? What might my life of faith have to do with my career?
This year's Fall Devotional Guide will explore these questions and more. This year's guide features devotionals from SMU Alumni as they offer their own reflections on the themes of purpose and calling in the life of faith. As an ecumenical resource, each contributor brings their own experiences, background, and faith tradition. They may not be able to answer your most pressing questions, but they will offer their reflections on how they have wrestled and lived out these questions around faith and purpose in their own lives. We hope these devotionals offer both encouragement and challenge to you this semester.
The Office of the Chaplain & Religious Life is excited to share the Fall 2025 Devotional Guide: "Missed Call": Purpose and Calling in College Life"
