Work can be a daily grind--a hard, monotonous set of thankless tasks. In the midst of the ongoing toil, many are plagued by a lack of purpose, confused as to what to do and who to become. And while some of our vocations may seem more overtly meaningful than others', the truth is that most of us work because we have to. It is a means to an end--survival.

Given the enormous amount of time each of us spends working, we would do well to understand our callings and how God works through them.

Here culture expert Gene Veith gives us more than a...