Assume that you believe that this world is all there is and that life is over when you die. What job would you choose? Why would you make that choice?
Assuming that this world is it and that life is over when I die I would choose to be a counselor. I would make this choice because I enjoy helping others. I love the sight of another person or couple suddenly getting an epiphany and realizing that things are not quite as bad as they thought. Peter Kreeft tells us in The Case for Faith
Even people without religious faith are aware of that dimension of suffering. And if we can bring good out of evil even without bringing God into the picture, you can imagine how much more, with God’s help, evil can work out for the greater good. (Strobel, 2000, p. 45)
I would also choose this profession because of passion. Several years ago, I was reading Dare to Desire and was awakened by the truth of the following passage: “Don’t ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive, and go and do that, because what the world needs is people who have come alive.” (Eldredge, 2002, p. 39)
Helping others become all that they can be, helping them to find their desire, their passion, makes me come alive. Watching them come alive is the greatest reward one could ask for.
Eldredge, J. (2002). Dare to Desire: An Invitation To Fulfill Your Deepest Dreams. Nashville: TN: Tomas Nelson Publishers.
Strobel, L. (2000). The Case For Faith: A Journalist Investigates the Toughest Objections to Christianity. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.