On Being Called

1 Samuel 3:10 (NLT): On Being Called

And the Lord came and called as before, “Samuel! Samuel!”

And Samuel replied, “Speak, your servant is listening.”

I often ask God in prayer where he wants me to go and what he wants me to do. They are questions that seem easy enough to answer, for they define the basic structures of life -- place, action, and service. Looking back, it is clear that God’s voice changes as our lives change. There is, however, a steady connecting thread that bonds each stage in our lives with God’s will.

As a formative youth, school was always a challenge for me. I never liked it. And due to difficult circumstances, I did not have the formation and structure that I needed for success. This, in turn, influenced my poor choices as an adolescent. But in the thick of my bad choices, there were professionals in the school system who were there to mentor, guide, and listen. These wonderful people cared about me, and it clearly showed through their understanding and service to a troubled teen. At the time, however, I did not realize that their service was forming my own vocation as a teacher. I say vocation and not career on purpose, for a vocation is “an occupation to which a person is specially drawn”; a vocation, in other words, is a calling.

After high school, I enlisted in the U.S. Air Force. And it was during those years of service that I learned the value of education. In the service, education fostered rank and promotion. The lack of education brought stagnation. Within my first year, I enrolled in night college classes. And in them, I experienced the hard work and hunger for learning. I felt called to learn and tenaciously took classes wherever I was stationed.

Upon entering college full time, I met many professors who became my mentors. Their knowledge, kindness, humor, enthusiasm, and professionalism not only formed my mind and study habits but reaffirmed my heart’s yearning to become an educator. It was in college, that I began to understand that my calling was to be a teacher, to give back that positivity and compassion to my students.

Over the past 21 years, God has given me the grace to embrace his call as a classroom teacher, even during the mute years of my spiritual life when I was not listening for his voice. More than this, God has blessed me to serve as a husband to my beautiful best friend, Dana, and a father to four wonderful children -- Wes, Andy, Lily, and Luke.  

Our calling is not always a melodious song of celebration; it is sometimes speckled with the dark dirge of suffering or pain. But even in our pain we can find blessings if we open our hearts to God with the words of Samuel, “Speak, your servant is listening.”

Looking back on our lives, as rocky or smooth as they may be, where has God called each of us? Let us consider the vast landscape of our life experience. How have we listened, responded, and carried forth on God’s call? Are we listening as God’s servants now?

Heavenly Father, please speak, for your servants are listening. Let our lives be a radiance of your love and our hearts be the magnet that draws others to you. Each day you call us in everything we do, give us ears to hear, eyes to see, and hearts to love. In Jesus Christ we pray, amen.

Have a blessed week!

Stan