Threshold Callings

In Isaiah chapter 6, we read: In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lofty… Then, I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send?”

Over the past two days, we’ve reflected on how Isaiah’s calling took place in the midst of a major historical event during his lifetime. These types of events often open our eyes to the great need around us. But it’s not just the major world events, is it? Even events in our own lives can also open our hearts to a new calling…

Perhaps, for you, it might sound more like this: In the year of the diagnosis… In the year my father died… In the year my wife left me… In the year I lost my job… In the year she got sick… I saw the Lord standing above and in the midst of my life… and I knew my life was forever changed… I knew I had to change… I sensed there was more to life than I was living… I was made for something more than this…

Poet and Philosopher John O’Donahue writes about these threshold moments. He put it this way: “If you go back to the etymology of the word “threshold,” it’s a farming term. It comes from “threshing,” which is to separate the grain from the husk. So the threshold, in a way, is a place where you move into more critical and challenging and worthy fullness.”

Through these life events, through these thresholds, God will often speak into our lives and call us to respond. These moments compel us to decide, am I going to go this way with my life – or that way? Am I going to become small and bitter and angry, or am I going to use this experience to grow and to help others?

It could be that you are being called out of this experience to engage the world creatively in some new way… or to give to meet the needs that God has placed on your heart. Or perhaps it could be a calling to get to know those who see the world differently, to build bridges between them, or simply shift your perspective.

Whether you experience that calling as a tug on your hearts or a stirring in your souls – or whether you clearly hear God’s voice like Isaiah, or are moved by the cries of human need… or whether you just sense in your heart: this is one thing I can do right now, these callings speak to the presence of caring God – a loving God – a God whose Spirit is deep at work within us – moving us, compelling us, calling us to reach out to the places where grace is most needed.

Let us pray: Gracious God, open our eyes and hearts to even one small thing we can do, close to home today, to share your love and grace with others in need; in Jesus’ name. Amen.