Callings that Speak to the Presence of God

In an interview shortly before his death, John O’Donahue said, “It’s beautiful when you find someone at work who’s doing exactly what they dreamed they should be doing and whose work is an expression of their inner gift. And in witnessing to that gift and bringing it out, they actually provide an incredible service to us all. And I think you see that the gifts that are given to us as individuals are not for us alone, or for our own self-improvement, but they’re actually for the community and to be offered to others.”

I think about a man I knew from another church who was a retired CPA. And he was passionate about helping young couples find a way to live debt-free – helping them with plans to get out of debt and stay that way. With his help, I saw so many couples strengthened in their marriage, able to become more generous, and actually pass on a new way of being to their children.

I think about a woman named Jacki whom I met at a Continuing Ed. Conference years ago. She was a former Miss Florida Contestant, who worked in the beauty industry – and she felt God calling her to begin a ministry to offer facials, manicures, makeup, and even clothes to women who had been physically or emotionally abused.

I think about Barbara Enos and Bonnie McCarty from my church who make “Prayer Quilts,” for veterans, women in shelters, and for folks in need. I think about so many others of you…who have sensed a calling one way or another and who have responded.  

Whether you experience a calling like this as a tug on your hearts or a stirring in your souls – or whether you clearly hear God’s voice, 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 (however small it might be), these callings speak to the presence of caring God, a loving God, a God who Spirit is deep at work within us – moving us, compelling us to reach out to the places where grace is most needed.

May you and I, ever be open to these callings. May we use the time and the experience and the gifts we have to bless a world desperately in need. 

Let us pray: We thank you O God, for glimpses of your Spirit at work in and through others. Be at work in us too. We ask in Jesus’ name. Amen.