the place where your deep gladness meets the world's deep need

beauty in unexpected places :: carrot slice

Most of us arrive at a sense of self and vocation only after a long journey through alien lands. But this journey bears no resemblance to the trouble free "travel packages" sold by the tourism industry. It is more akin to the ancient tradition of pilgrimage-"a transformative journey to a sacred center" full of hardships, darkness, and peril... True vocation joins self and service, as Frederick Buechner asserts when he defines vocation as "the place where your deep gladness meets the world's deep need"

- Parker Palmer