What can a ball teach us about our vocation? Friar Fernando Martín, vocation promoter in Spain for the Province of Saint Nicholas of Tolentino, starts from this simple comparison to invite us to discover what “game” God has called each of us to.
All balls look similar when they’re sitting on a shelf. And yet each one was made for a different game. We share the same dignity, but not the same vocation. God doesn’t call us all to do the same thing, but to discover the place where our life makes sense. Here are ten lessons balls can teach us.
Vocation begins within
1. Without pressure, there’s no game. Without an inner life, neither is there.
What makes a ball bounce isn’t its surface, but the pressure it holds inside. From the outside you can hardly tell, but without it the game is impossible.
Our life also needs an inner strength. Prayer, silence, and an encounter with God sustain vocation far more than activity does. A very busy life can be completely empty.
“Go into your room, close the door, and pray to your Father” (Mt 6:6).
2. The outside catches your eye; the inside determines its quality.
Two balls can look identical and yet behave very differently. The difference isn’t in the color or the design, but in what you can’t see.
The same is true for us. What matters isn’t how much we do, but where we do it from. The same action can come from love, self-interest, or vanity.
“Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Mt 6:21).
God calls each person along a different path
3. There are many kinds of balls because there are many games.
Football, basketball, tennis, golf, rugby, volleyball… Each sport needs a different ball.
God also loves diversity. He doesn’t mass-produce people or call everyone along the same path. Marriage, consecrated life, priesthood, mission, lay life… The Church’s richness comes precisely from the variety of its vocations.
“There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit” (1 Cor 12:4).
4. No ball is better than another.
It would be absurd to ask whether a football or a tennis ball is better. It all depends on the game they were made for.
It’s exactly the same with vocations. There are no first- and second-class vocations. The important question isn’t which one seems more valuable, but which one is ours.
“Whoever wants to be first must be the servant of all” (Mk 9:35).
5. Some balls can be used for several games… but they never quite fit.
With a tennis ball we can improvise other games. Even a ball can be used for many things. But we all sense that something isn’t quite right.
We can also live by taking up places we weren’t called to. We can do a lot of good, and still be left with a strange sense that something feels off. Vocation isn’t only about being useful, but about answering God’s call.
“My sheep listen to my voice” (Jn 10:27).
6. Some balls are one of a kind.
The oval shape of a rugby ball is unmistakable. No one would confuse it with another.
There are people whose vocation has very specific features. God still calls some to a singular, unexpected mission that is sometimes misunderstood. Not all calls are the same, because the Lord keeps writing unrepeatable stories.
“Follow me” (Mt 9:9).
Discovering your vocation is putting your life in play
7. A ball that never gets played with ends up getting ruined.
Use wears things out, but it also preserves them. A forgotten ball loses air, hardens, or ends up cracking.
Vocation also needs to be exercised. Love that isn’t given grows cold. Talents that aren’t put at the service of others end up fading away.
“To the one who has, more will be given; from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away” (Mt 25:29).
8. The most loved balls are usually the most worn.
There are old balls no one wants to throw away because they hold a story. They’re full of marks, but also full of memories.
That’s what happens with those who have spent their lives for others. Maybe they no longer have the strength they once did, but they carry an authority that only love lived over many years can give.
“There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life” (Jn 15:13).
9. No ball plays alone.
No matter how good it is, a ball needs teammates, rules, and a team. Its meaning appears when it enters into relationship with others.
Vocation isn’t lived in solitude either. Every call is an invitation to build communion. In Augustinian Recollect spirituality, we know that no one fully finds God by isolating themselves from others.
“Where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I” (Mt 18:20).
10. All balls were made to be in motion.
A ball kept in a display case keeps its appearance, but loses its reason for being. It was made to run, to pass from one set of hands to another, and to be part of the game.
Our life, too, was meant for a mission. God didn’t create us to stay still, but to step into history and work with him. Discovering your vocation isn’t only about knowing who you are, but understanding what you were created for.
“Go into all the world” (Mk 16:15).
Maybe the most important question isn’t what kind of ball we’d like to be, but what game God created us for. Only when a ball finds the field it was designed for does it unfold all its possibilities. And we find true joy when we stop comparing ourselves to others and discover the place God had in mind for our life from the very beginning.