Called to Be

Do you do your job - a) because you have to; b) as a profession or career; c) as a vocation or calling?One of the things about my job is it is neither a profession or a career, it is a calling. Being "called" to do something is not that well understood. When you go through the selection process for the priesthood they try and discern a calling.Have you ever felt called to something?My calling was marked by a) not wanting to do it (that's apparently a big one folks! Just say, "I don't really want this BUT...." and you are a shoo-in); b) every job I did I turned into a ministry anyway, until I finally got a chaplaincy job that paid me to do what I did naturally; and c) it wasn't what I did that marked me as called, it was who I was. I just couldn't help it. You could say to me, “Do you enjoy your job?” and I would think, “What a ridiculous question. Enjoy isn't relevant when you just cannot help being who you are and doing what you do.”Now the perceptive will have noticed that callings line up perfectly with what the bible teaches about covenant and kingdom. Called people are being who they are. Being one with God's call is all about covenant. Called people cannot help doing what they do.That's a kingdom thing - doing what God has made you to do.Is there some conviction or passion in your life that you just have to do?There are many called people at St Philips. One person I'm thinking of is very scary. Not because she's even slightly intimidating but because she can do things that I find really "out there".  She is called to it, so for her it's easy.This person can visit cancer patients, the very, very elderly, even seriously mentally-ill people, like I pop down to the IGA for ice cream. She talks readily and freely with people from other cultures - African, Aboriginal, Middle Eastern - then she thinks nothing of inviting them home or even to stay! She is "high bar"!  Scary!  Unique!She is all those things but more so, she is called. Called by God to be who he has made her to be and called by God to do what He has called her to do. No-one and nothing else.It's beautiful when you see it. It pleases God when we live it.In the Adventure With You Malcolm