It was nice to have my gifts affirmed in this way, but when a group of us got together at the end of the weekend to discuss how to use the gifts we had discerned, it was all speculation. We had discerned our talents and gifts, but we still hadn't a clue what, if anything, we ought to do with them. I didn't even know if I should base my life on my already-known talents. Retreats like the one I attended tend to support what I call the corporate model of discernment. What that basically means is that the best-qualified candidate gets the job, and everyone's calling is simply the thing they're best qualified for.
Discernment therefore becomes nothing more than matching resumes with job descriptions.
And one's success at a given vocation is more or less an indicator of a properly discerned calling. Let's suppose our church needs a new treasurer to manage our growing endowment. In the congregation are Jen, a cpa and former Wall Street stockbroker, and Tim, a third grade teacher at the local public school. We pray on it, we vote on it, and we're ready to move on to the next item on our church board's agenda. People are matched up with tasks they will presumably enjoy, and the church gets skilled help when and where it's needed.