Last Sunday our Sunday School class was talking about having a calling. The comment was made that the need is the call. This simple statement has been on my mind ever since. It also reminded me of a quote that I used to have on the refrigerator by Frederick Buechner. I looked it up to make sure I had the wording correct.
"The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world's deep hunger meet.
~Frederick Buechner ~
Another quote that I find meaningful in thinking about my calling or about what God wants me to do is this -
Help one person at a time and always start with the person nearest you.
~ Mother Teresa ~
So often finding our calling can be achieved simply being the person God made you to be in place you find yourself right now.
Another way to put it could be - bloom where you are planted.
This post will be linked to Hear it On Sunday, Use it One Monday, Women Living Well, A Wise Woman Builds Her Home, Faith Filled Friday, and Thought Provoking Thursday.
Absolutely, Rose -- such an important message. So often I am wooed by trying to discern a "bigger" calling -- should I go on a mission trip? Should I quit my job? And really, I ought not look further than what's presently around me: my children, my husband, what I write in His name. That is a calling, too -- and one I often overlook.
ReplyDeleteRose,
ReplyDeleteYes! Sometimes living our calling means just living as us. I am always waiting for that big "calling" when really I'm called to live in the right now.
Thanks for the post.
I love your quotes -- the one by Frederick Buechner really resonated with me. And, also, this was such confirmation with Mother Theresa's quote -- I need to start my speaking calling at my church instead of dreaming of being whisked away by someplace else!
ReplyDeleteOUCH... This hits me deep! I often forget that being a mom and a wife is a calling. I am constanly asking God what he wants me to do, but I ignore Him when His response is to devote myself to what I am already doing.
ReplyDelete"being the person God made you to be in place you find yourself right now."...amen and I love the quotes by Mother Teresa...and Buechner...
ReplyDeleteNot to be contradictive,to the comment made in your sunday school, but Oswald Chambers said, "The need is not the call."...meaning there are an infinite number of needs everywhere, but we're not called to them all.
Oh this is so true! I struggle with the illusion of a grander calling, but I agree, I think God is wanting me to be who he created me to be right now.
ReplyDeleteI love that quote from mother Teresa. Why is it sometimes so much harder to help that one person?
Beautiful thoughts this monday.
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ReplyDelete"Bloom where you are planted"--what a wonderful reminder, especially as I am surrounded by the beauty of spring!
ReplyDeleteI, too, needed to hear this. I find myself all too often looking forward to the "next thing", instead of finding the opportunities in today.
Thank you for this post. :)
(Sorry about the previously deleted post--I was signed in under the wrong account!)
Love that Buechner quote -- and your conclusion. Wise words.
ReplyDeleteThis is a good reminder... so often we think we should be a different kind of vessel or serve a different kind of purpose. I like the Mother Teresa quote, too. It is not always the grand things we are called to do. Sometimes it's the little things that we think are unimportant, which God deems of supreme importance.
ReplyDeleteI don't know if I quite agree one hundred percent with the statement "the need is the call." We do need to be led, I think, by the Spirit, especially those who have families and who are also involved in ministry. It is so easy to get caught up in meeting ministry needs when you think "the need is the call," and forget that there are needs in one's own family. I've seen many families get ignored this way...
I think you balanced that statement very well with your quotes and your words here.
Great post! Recently, God has woken me up to the endless opportunities to serve around me if I will just open up my eyes and take a look around. Visiting from Thought-provoking Thursday!
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