Book Review: What The Heck Am I Going To Do With My Life? by Margaret Feinberg

Margaret Feinberg has been one of my favorite authors and one of my favorite bloggers for a few years now. When she offered me the opportunity to read her new book, What The Heck Am I Going To Do With My Life? (Tyndale House, 2006), I jumped at it. And again, I wasn't disappointed. Be warned – words like passion and destiny and calling are big, powerful, meaningful words. And I think this little book does well in using them for the discussion of "what do I want to do/be when I grow up?"

One of the writing gifts Feinberg brings to her work is the ability to tell a story and weave it into application. With this book asking what is most likely the more gi-normous question facing just about everyone, she takes the time to share pertinent experiences of real people in real life, and then asks the questions and ponders the options available as we all ask "what the heck?"

An opening story struck me where I find myself even now: Jerry Slocum and his passion for mechanical puzzles. Just like life, the answers are usually not out in front – and this thought, for me, was worth the price of admission:

Jerry noted that — like life — many puzzles don't have clear solutions. They require innovation, creativity, and the willingness to face a challenge. "One of the things you learn through solving puzzles is that you can't look for the obvious solution and keep trying it over and over, because you'll fail," he says. "You have to look at unusual and unorthodox ways of solving the problem. You have to shift to trying to do something one way and then the other, the way the inventor might have. It stimulates your thinking and logic and analysis." (p. 20)

Feinberg goes on from there to discuss various upbringing factors that play into our choices as we decide what we want to do when we grow up. Family, money, heroes, personality – all play a part in how we choose life paths. How does calling fit into it? What about God and our spiritual growth coming into view? What about a passion for people, or for mechanics or arts or leadership?

Destiny is a journey — one that we're already on whether we realize it or not. The good news is that destiny is something that happens to you; you don't happen to destiny. In other words, the very nature of destiny requires that someone or something greater than you is at work. Your destiny is out of your control. And that's a good thing. (p. 74)

Article Author: Rick Stilwell

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