DAILY BYTEThere is another wonderful discovery about calling that I would like to bring to your attention. When reading the story did you notice how Jacob woke up from his dream filled with holy awe, bubbling with exuberant joy, and alive with hope-filled possibility? From this we learn that:
CALLINGS ARE BEST EXPRESSED IN THE PLACE WHERE OUR GREATEST JOY AND THE WORLD’S GREATEST NEED COINCIDE.
We rob ourselves of potential joy around our callings by obsessing that God sends us only to do things and go places that would make us miserable. This begs the question of what kind of father do you think God really is? Sure, there will be times when we have to self-sacrifice or take a leap of faith, but most of the time our callings will involve those parts of life that we really enjoy.
I remember a couple of years back, doing a spiritual gifts questionnaire with some youth. One of the gifts listed on that questionnaire was that of chastity. During the course of the evening, I had 3 or 4 teenagers surreptitiously approach me, all with haunted, worried expressions, and who whispered to me: “Show me how to answer this thing so that I don’t land up with the gift of chastity! What a bummer that would be.”
But did you ever think that if you were called to chastity, you might be overjoyed? You might find it hard and sacrificial but also deeply fulfilling at the same time. As Frederick Buechner once wrote: “Neither the hair shirt nor the soft berth will do. The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet.”
In fact, Frederick Buechner twice spent periods of his life working as a school chaplain, and would often encourage his pupils to work deeply on their inner sources of joy as being places of great potential for their callings to develop and be expressed.
Spend some time thinking about what you most enjoy doing in life, the places you feel ‘God’s pleasure’ resonating within you, and then think about how you can use that to make a difference in reaching out to others. Write down some of your reflections and begin to centre your prayers on them as you continue to search God’s purpose for your life.
PRAY AS YOU GO
Holy God, you created me with the ability to have joy for a reason. Bless me with the imagination I need to see how I can use the things I love to do in ways that will serve and further your Kingdom. Amen.
FOCUS READING
Genesis 28. 16-17 NRSV
Then Jacob woke from his sleep and said, surely the Lord is in this place- and I did not know it!” And he was afraid, and said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.”
