My deepest vocation is to be a witness to the glimpses of God I have been allowed to catch.
I have always loved that quote. Here are some examples of my living out that deepest vocation.
Last weekend I traveled home. They are a bit ahead of us spring-wise. The irises and peonies were already in bloom. The beauty was stunning.
I went home because we celebrated the baptism of my first godchild (my cousin’s newest baby). A pretty obvious example!
While I was at home, I got my first hummingbird window feeder. Not only have I attracted hummingbirds, but orioles, too!
I must admit, my life has been going pretty non-stop this entire Easter season. This weekend is the first weekend that I have had a chance to catch more than just glimpses of God, but also a breath! (Thank you for that gift of the Spirit, Pentecost weekend!) I re-read Mary Margaret Funk’s wonderful book, Into the Depths, which recounts her near-death experience during a catastrophic flood in Bolivia. She, too, writes about vocation, using words that also gave me pause:
When I think back over the course of my life, I realize I’ve always been on a quest to understand the meaning of “vocation,” a word that comes from the Latin vocare, to call. A “calling” is not a job or even one’s work. It’s a summons that emerges from a desire so deep that it cannot be rationalized by the conscious mind. Indeed, as those reluctant prophets Moses and Jonah discovered, God’s invitation can be deeply inconvenient and sometimes terrifying. Jonah was so disturbed by what he was being asked to do that he fled, even to be swallowed whole by a great fish. But as Jonah discovered, no matter how inadequate or unprepared or scared you may feel yourself to be, God will always find you and point you in the right direction.
Having some time to pause gave me an opportunity to re-center in the right direction. It, too, has reminded me that while living my vocation in the daily (which is the only place to really live it, I have found), I easily get lost in the busyness. The busyness can be terrifying because hearing God’s call is that much harder. But, at the end of the day, my deepest desire is to seek God. It seems I don’t have to look too far!
May your Pentecost be Spirit-filled.
Let us walk in the holy presence.
