Discerning and Defining a Calling

Discerning and Defining a Calling

A calling might be described as a “still, small voice” out of the whirlwind that despite the noise and chaos centers us. For Moses it was a burning bush, for Gideon a fleece. It is a sign or even an audible voice or our self-conscious/conscience guiding us onto a path we might not necessarily have chosen for ourselves. In fact, it might be counter-intuitive, against our best interests.

Calling is the niggling feeling that something is right/not right. Some have confused “first love,” the euphoric adrenaline accompanying a new positive experience with calling. Calling is what gets us through the hard times, the dark nights, the hours of nitpicking a neighborhood child’s hair, of giving up one’s bed at 1 a.m. for a homeless person, for making sammies when one’s friends are out there getting great jobs and earning big bucks. It is understanding that this small, unobserved act of kindness is important if only for the person on the receiving end. It is holding a door open for others.

For me it meant that for nearly 40 years I did not put anything away for Social Security, in a rainy-day bank account, into retirement funds. I lived and worked for the here, today. And, it seemed enough.

A calling asks us to take the high road when we want to get somewhere quick and easy, it means going over the mountain instead of around it, it asks us to consider the other rather than what is good for us, me, alone. I joined, became a member of the mission group, not so much different that the Knights of Columbus or a Sunday School teacher or other avocational activities: I lived at the “church,” we were the church, it wasn’t a hobby or a sometime thing. It was my life work—until it wasn’t

Just as one feels called, I believe it is possible to feel uncalled.

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