Thursday, June 18, 2009

The Calling and Random Thoughts

I've been having a lot of random thoughts lately.

Today I've been thinking a lot about our calling. Each of us has a purpose in life, but most people have no clue what theirs might be. It's not something you can learn from a book, and it's not something someone can point out and say 'here, this is your purpose'. No, it's an elusive thing that each individual must learn for themselves. And then there's the tricky thing; no one can tell you if you're right or not when you think you've got it all figured out. God does seem to give us signs, but then those same signs can be interpreted differently by different people, so unless you trust your instinct, it's hard to know if you're right in the interpretation of your sign. If you trusted your instinct to begin with, you wouldn't be asking for signs, though, right?

Some people never hear the calling. They go right through life and never agonize over these issues. Those people probably think the other people, the people dedicated to finding or following their calling are nuts. Or selfish. Or weird. Or a mix of all three.

Some people hear the calling and ignore it, or don't recognize it for what it is. They think somehow they'll find the cure for their nagging unhappiness and dissatisfaction in life. Some people smother the calling with alcohol or drugs, or other forms of addiction.

Some people hear the calling clearly and know that if they do not respond, they will go insane or die.

And now for the really random and cryptic thought I came up with. Anyone who's ever raised a wild animal and then released it will understand. A wildling can never return to captivity once freedom has been tasted.

Which leads to the last thought for the this blog entry, which is derived from the above random thought and combined with the previous thoughts. The calling, once heard, and acknowledged, cannot be denied. I think someone said that before, but I can't find a source for the quote. If you know it, please let me know so I can properly credit the author.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

'nice to hear you again, Roxanne. I hope you expand on this post some more. ....bobf

Rob said...

The Calling... I have in the past had jobs that I enjoyed, there have actually been occasions that I remarked to a friend/co-worker "they are paying us for this!" and had him agree.

I once mentioned this to a co-worker at my present employment and received a blank stare. I do believe that he had no idea there are jobs which you enjoy that much that being paid for doing it is a bonus.

With that in mind I wonder why I continue to d what I'm doing... it's the extra $4 and hour I suspect.