Calling Part Two

 

Vocation does not come from willfulness…it comes from listening. Vocation comes from the Latin word, “voice” ~ Your inner voice.  Not the voice that demands with “shoulds” and “have tos”. We are taught to listen to everything and everyone but ourselves, to take all our clues about living from the people and powers around us. We listen for guidance everywhere except from within.  Vocation quite differently – not as a goal to be achieved but as a gift to be received.  Not a prize to win, rather a treasure to be found.  Parker Palmer Let Your Life Speak

How?  How do we listen to our life?  How do we let our lives sing and speak and stir us toward the next right step in embracing and embodying our calling?

Great questions!!

First, I think we need to slow down so our soul can catch up.  Our pace of life is fast, frenzied, and overflowing.  When was the last time you heard someone say, “I have so much free time!  Just endless, open calendar.”? Dallas Willard once called hurry “the great enemy of spiritual life in our day,” and urged followers of Jesus to “ruthlessly eliminate hurry.  Yet, even when we retire, we fill our days.  To push pause.  To stop.  To be and breathe.  This has always been the way God has shown up in our lives from the beginning when God blessed the seventh day, stopped creating for a moment, and rested.  That pattern is still God’s invitation to all of us.

Second, when we stop, we need to align our minds, hearts, and souls.  What is going on in your mind?  What is humming in your heart?  What is stirring in your soul?  Write this down each and every day.  I know that often we believe we must think our way through everything.  But your heart and soul have important wisdom for you.  If that sounds too much like a Hallmark card; perhaps it would help you to know that your heart has brain cells in it.  You can click here to read about this:

https://www.sciencenews.org/article/new-3-d-map-illuminates-little-brain-nerve-cells-within-heart

Third, follow your curiosity.  I believe that when we cease being curious, following the nudges of God’s grace, we quickly find ourselves feeling worn down and weary and cynical and critical.  What today would you like to know more about?  What would you like to explore?  Your life is both an art project and a science experiment.  You can test and try out new ways of being and living and sharing.  This is not to say it will be easy.  Unfortunately, there are those who benefit from the systems of the world and don’t want change.  Unfortunately, there are those in your life who feel threatened if you set aside your constant criticism and try to name/notice the good.  Unfortunately, there are those who would prefer you stay despondent on the sofa binge watching Netflix.  To live another way, to let your life speak, and let loose your curiosity will not be celebrated by everyone.

But I celebrate you.

Today, pause and listen to your life.  Then, out of that holy moment…let your life speak.  May this be more than words you read, let this be a prayer each of us lives.  Amen.