Living a fully integrated life

Collection of essays explores vocation, meaning

The Seamless Life: A Tapestry of Love and Learning, Worship and Work

Steven Garber (InterVarsity Press, 2020 136pp, $20.00 US)

By April Yamasaki

Corona virus. Influenza. HIV/AIDS. Famine. Armed conflict and more. In a world where life itself seems precarious, what does it mean to live a “seamless life,” and why does it matter?

In the introduction to his latest book, Steven Garber puts the question this way, and offers a concise answer:

What does it mean to see seamlessly? To see the whole of life as important to God, to us, and to the world . . . to understand that our longing for coherence is born of our truest humanity, a calling into the reality that being human and being holy are one and the same life.

The rest of this book unpacks this brief explanation. For the author’s grandparents, living a seamless life meant life on their ranch where prayer and work went hand in hand each day and each season of the year. In the world of business today, it means enlarging the narrow concern of making money and embracing the common good. It means seeing work not only as what occupies our time, but what it means to us and how it connects to God’s work in the world.

In The Seamless Life, Garber continues with the theme of vocation that has been the focus of much of his

work and writing as a professor and founder of The Washington Institute for Faith, Vocation, and Culture. But his emphasis this time is on storytelling as he shares about his family, some of his experiences speaking and connecting with people across the country, books, films and music.

Each of the 35 short reflections begins with a full-color photograph — like his grandfather’s saddle blanket, a room in his son’s house, U2’s Bono, the Golden Gate Bridge, a still from the movie, The Hundred-Foot Journey. Together these illustrated reflections tell the story of his life-work and encourage readers to reflect on their own vocation and story.

The book is organized in two sections: “At Work in the World” and “Making Sense of Life.” But the two section titles hardly seem necessary, since the first part sets work in the context of all of life and the second continues to explore the theme of work. The two sections fit together so seamlessly that I didn’t even notice passing from one to the other as I read through the book. That in itself is an example of the seamless life, where work and life are not at odds with one another, not opposites in an always-elusive work-life balance, but part of a seamless whole.

I read this book in order from beginning to end, but since each illustrated essay is a complete unit, readers can easily start anywhere. “Work Matters,” “When a Dream Becomes a Life,” and “Remarkable Joy, Remarkable Sorrow” are among my favorites. These and other essays offer an inspiring vision of “what vocation is for everyone everywhere, a calling to care about the way the world is . . . and working through the days of our lives at what could and even should be.”

This collection of essays is an engaging read for personal reflection. As a small hardcover book with color photographs, it also makes a great gift for graduates just beginning their vocational journey and for anyone interested in work and the meaning of life. ◆

April Yamasaki is resident author with Valley CrossWay Church in Abbotsford, B.C.; editor of Purpose, a monthly magazine of everyday inspiration; and author of Four Gifts, Sacred Pauses, and other books on Christian living.