We Are Called

As I hold my stone in my hand, turning it over and over and over in my palm, it is telling me one thing plain and simple. We are called to our work in this world. You may think otherwise, but not so. I'm thinking of my uncle who was very unusual, rather a character, and amazingly faithful. He would meet a stranger, a family member, the ice cream vendor with this opening line, "Hi, I'm Charlie. Have you taken Jesus as your personal savior?" Just like he was asking what the weather was. It was off-putting to say the least in thei work-a-day world where talking salvation is about as couth as talking about the stains in your underwear.

He really didn't care if it was off-putting, but if it stuck with even one person once a week, he had done his work. My family, especially my mother, was repulsed by that kind of Bible Belt fanaticism. She considered him a crackpot, I can see her body shutter and grimace form like something unpleasant bubbling to the surface from the bottom of a swamp -- at those words when Uncle Charlie happened to be in her presence. He was my father's brother. She couldn't stand him.

He was a true believer and oddly, so am I, although my religion is surely more wide-ranging, less rigid, less articulated, more upper-middle class shiny clean and unobtrusive. I do believe God calls us to use our gifts and if we don't hear the call, has no false modesty about yelling a little louder right in our face or even giving us a swift kick in the rump. Just like Uncle Charlie, he's not ashamed to remind you of your work on this earth. God won't let you off the hook. Like with me, he's always yelling at me to get my lazy carcass out of bed and put pen to paper. Some of the results might look like the devil made me do it -- not the old man with the white beard, the friendly face -- but whatever the case, you'll see he'll always bring you back around to something you're darned good at (thanks to him) and feels just about as natural as breathing for you. Something very easy for you -- something very hard for you -- something just right for you.