Seeler
Well-Known Member
Pilgrim - I was thinking how I would answer your original question before I read your story. I think it reinforces my ideas - or that my ideas run somewhat parallel to yours.
I've thought a lot about God's call over the years. Sometimes it seemed that I was called but things (no money for education, family demands, poor health) got in the way. Or was I just making excuses? Or did I somehow miss my calling? Did I waste my time on other things?
And now, I think God calls us to BE -- just to be ourselves, the best selves we can be, in the place and circumstances in which we find ourselves.
When I was young I wanted to be an author, to write books full of human interest that people might identify with. It didn't happen - a few articles, a short story published in a magazine - and then I gave it up for many years while working at other jobs and raising a family. As a senior I've had two books published, and I've written articles, essays, short stories and sermons that may have had some influence on some people.
I also felt called to be a teacher and eventually I went to Teachers' College - but by the time I received my certificate I was married and soon had two young children, and I was battling a serious chronic illness. I never taught full time. I did do some supply work in the school system - but as a parent and then a grandparent I used my training to run a small pre-school group, and then a pre-school play ground. and for many years I taught Sunday School, and eventually adult classes and seminars. Those two years in Teachers' College were not lost.
Nor were the years I spent doing office work, mainly in estate and trust work. I don't consider finance my strong point, but I learned a lot in those years, and I hope that I helped many of the people whose finances we managed in trusts or guardianships. (My first visit to a mental institution was to visit a client and try to ascertain his needs and circumstances, and to try to reassure him that his affairs were being taken care of.)
But always I felt the call to ministry. Eventually I took courses and became a LLWL (Licensed Lay Worship Leader). Over the last twenty + years I've written and delivered hundreds of sermons and led in worship in many congregations. Many people have told me that I should have been a minister, that I missed my calling. Some, like the pastoral charge I've been serving this year, have told me that they wished they could hire me full time.
Perhaps I should have persevered when I was young and become a minister, who taught a Bible study class and held seminars on theological questions and did a bit of writing on he side. But perhaps God called me, and continues to call me, to BE who I am, where I am, right now.
I've thought a lot about God's call over the years. Sometimes it seemed that I was called but things (no money for education, family demands, poor health) got in the way. Or was I just making excuses? Or did I somehow miss my calling? Did I waste my time on other things?
And now, I think God calls us to BE -- just to be ourselves, the best selves we can be, in the place and circumstances in which we find ourselves.
When I was young I wanted to be an author, to write books full of human interest that people might identify with. It didn't happen - a few articles, a short story published in a magazine - and then I gave it up for many years while working at other jobs and raising a family. As a senior I've had two books published, and I've written articles, essays, short stories and sermons that may have had some influence on some people.
I also felt called to be a teacher and eventually I went to Teachers' College - but by the time I received my certificate I was married and soon had two young children, and I was battling a serious chronic illness. I never taught full time. I did do some supply work in the school system - but as a parent and then a grandparent I used my training to run a small pre-school group, and then a pre-school play ground. and for many years I taught Sunday School, and eventually adult classes and seminars. Those two years in Teachers' College were not lost.
Nor were the years I spent doing office work, mainly in estate and trust work. I don't consider finance my strong point, but I learned a lot in those years, and I hope that I helped many of the people whose finances we managed in trusts or guardianships. (My first visit to a mental institution was to visit a client and try to ascertain his needs and circumstances, and to try to reassure him that his affairs were being taken care of.)
But always I felt the call to ministry. Eventually I took courses and became a LLWL (Licensed Lay Worship Leader). Over the last twenty + years I've written and delivered hundreds of sermons and led in worship in many congregations. Many people have told me that I should have been a minister, that I missed my calling. Some, like the pastoral charge I've been serving this year, have told me that they wished they could hire me full time.
Perhaps I should have persevered when I was young and become a minister, who taught a Bible study class and held seminars on theological questions and did a bit of writing on he side. But perhaps God called me, and continues to call me, to BE who I am, where I am, right now.
