A dear friend from Australia messaged me a question:
"What do you think your final goal in life is? Do you know your calling? If yes, what is it? If no, how do you live your life with an assurance that you are created for a reason other than to commune with God. What are humans made for?
I can see that she was seeking and questioning. I was delighted that she was questioning and reflecting on the life's calling; it is evidence that God's Spirit was at work in her heart. Questions drives understanding and defines learning, but these are tough questions.
I considered her questions and replied as concisely as I can over sms:
"I believe all of us besides primarily to commune with God have an individual distinct calling. However, this does not translate into a well-mapped out life. Rather we can discern God's main melody line in the song of our lives and we can than participate in the improvisation of the harmony. In my context, I think God created me to teach (In Paul Stevens' words, to be a meaning and communication maker, :) ) and to interact with young people (path maker). So the song of my life, you will find these melody lines running through; the actual enactment would be a harmony line of my response - meaning in my vocation I will have elements of teaching and working with younger people though the actual working out of these can vary and differ according to the choices I make. These I believe is my calling in this life."
I realise that it is hard to be concise in the answers to her questions; in summarizing the meaning can be diluted and lost. I supposed we can probably continue this conversation over a few weblog entries. I'll do just that then.
Ollie
May 2007
"What do you think your final goal in life is? Do you know your calling? If yes, what is it? If no, how do you live your life with an assurance that you are created for a reason other than to commune with God. What are humans made for?
I can see that she was seeking and questioning. I was delighted that she was questioning and reflecting on the life's calling; it is evidence that God's Spirit was at work in her heart. Questions drives understanding and defines learning, but these are tough questions.
I considered her questions and replied as concisely as I can over sms:
"I believe all of us besides primarily to commune with God have an individual distinct calling. However, this does not translate into a well-mapped out life. Rather we can discern God's main melody line in the song of our lives and we can than participate in the improvisation of the harmony. In my context, I think God created me to teach (In Paul Stevens' words, to be a meaning and communication maker, :) ) and to interact with young people (path maker). So the song of my life, you will find these melody lines running through; the actual enactment would be a harmony line of my response - meaning in my vocation I will have elements of teaching and working with younger people though the actual working out of these can vary and differ according to the choices I make. These I believe is my calling in this life."
I realise that it is hard to be concise in the answers to her questions; in summarizing the meaning can be diluted and lost. I supposed we can probably continue this conversation over a few weblog entries. I'll do just that then.
Ollie
May 2007
No comments:
Post a Comment