The callings of life are many and varied. I love the reminder my beloved teacher gave: "calling" really is that -- something we hear within and learn to follow. In the Christian world it is often assigned almost exclusively to ministry. If a person is "called" it means they have a special designation in God's kingdom.
I do believe clergy may have a distinctive calling, certainly peculiar. But surely it is also true that everyone has a calling. It is that inner voice that persists unless persistently ignored. And even then it may never die, but reach out forever until it comes forth in various ways long dormant.
This last we often see, I think, when a retired person who worked the factory or office to pay the bills and care for his family finds a role at age 67 that, as we say, "scratches the itch." We could say it "answers the call."
Often it takes a lifetime to learn to hear and answer. And working it out in the midst of life requires a wisdom few of us possess in great measure. Demands and various faults keep us from hearing, much less fulfilling, our calling.
What is your calling? What is mine? It is a still small voice, something we seldom hear well nor easily. It is a persistent voice that nudges: "This way, not that." It is the grace of God within, an expression of His image that says we -- each of us -- have unique purpose that calls us forth to be all we are to be.
That, and more, is calling and I pray you are hearing and living yours today.
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