Becoming yourself is.  

I knew a brilliant young woman who needed to leave professional ministry to become herself.

Her life was on track to eventually earn the title of "Reverend" in a mainstream denomination along with its retirement benefits.  The problem was that this denomination was neither a fit nor was the position of senior pastor.  After a long season together in spiritual direction, it became clear that while she had given it a valiant effort,
she was living a story that was someone else's, not hers.  

When I was in college, there were para-church ministries who planted the idea in students' minds that if you really loved Jesus you would let go of your secular job pursuits and come on staff with them after college.  

As an adult, I watch how some believe leaving a "secular" job to go into professional ministry proves how much one loves and is devoted to God and/or the Church.  And it's lauded by many, especially when a big pay-cut is involved.  

So many gifted scientists, lawyers, business men & women, machinists, musicians, and others have left their "secular" callings because they thought loving Jesus and the Church meant to do so.  And it is true, sometimes Jesus does call us to leave one job for another, as he did his ragtag group of fishermen and tax collectors turned disciples.  Although notice if he or Paul called the folks who financially supported them to leave their jobs! 

The problem lies in labeling jobs "sacred" or "secular," elevating one over the other, and allowing that to become our primary lens for discernment.  Guess what happens?  People end up in full-time ministry jobs that are an ill-fit (for them and for those around them).  

Ever had a pastor who you could tell had a different calling?  I once worked for a senior pastor who was a very gifted naturalist.  I learned so much about reptiles and plants from him and watched how his face lit up when he talked about creation that every time I listened to him preach or sat in staff meeting, I wished he'd followed his God-given giftings instead!   

Remember ​16th century Protestant Reformer, Martin Luther?  Well after the word "vocation" had been institutionalized to mean full-time church work, he broke it out of the box again by reminding people that since all are called to the "priesthood of believers," all jobs are ministry!   Loving Jesus doesn't mean you must leave your job and become a professional missionary or monk.  You can be both right where you are!   

Read what Luther wrote in The Babylonian Captivity of the Church: 
"...the works of monks and priests, however holy and arduous they may be, do not differ one whit in the sight of God from the works of the rustic laborer in the field or the woman going about her household tasks...all are measured before God by faith alone."

Ever witness someone operating out of their giftings?  It's as natural and stunning as a sunrise.  One year my daughter hated math and the next year she loved it.  The difference? She had a teacher gifted in math!  Said Saint Basil of Caesarea, "God the Creator has arranged things so that we need each other."  Isn't that the truth?!  We need creative and compassionate electricians, inventors, counselors, accountants, nurses, yoga instructors, athletes, social workers, childcare providers...their presence changes the world, no matter how big or small.

So how can you begin to identify your vocation?  Author Frederick Buechner writes, "The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world's deep hunger meet."  Am I ever glad that math teacher didn't go into full-time ministry! Instead she's living out the presence of Christ in the classroom, where so many, like my daughter, need her. 

By the way, that young woman I mentioned at the beginning is now in a vocation she loves which has nothing to do with professional ministry.  It's a better fit for her (and for this world)!  
Glory be to God.  

Like a blazing sun your light shines...
my fears flee from your sight,
your fire consumes them.
​Psalm 21:9

Yesterday was my daughter's birthday.  
An eclipse-chasing friend of ours in Seattle has been reminding us of this epic birthday since we first announced we were moving to Tennessee. 

He's most certainly an eclipse prophet, for it absolutely lived up to all the hype he continually forecasted for 9 1/2 years!

Given it's the day after, you've already proclaimed, heard, or read the descriptions like unbelievable, beautiful, incredible,  amazing, epic...

And having a birthday fall on the eclipse was a once-in-a-life-time event.  But the scene I want to recall isn't about my daughter's "totality" cool birthday, but my 7-year-old son's experience of totality.  

During the partial eclipse we sat on our porch, watching my 11-year-old open some gifts and taking "moon bites" out of cucumber slices then checking the moon's progress to see who guessed correctly.  We also read Psalm 21 in Nan Merrill's Psalms for Praying.  We couldn't help but laugh as we read verse nine...perfect, even the Psalms were in alignment.

My son was super excited, describing how big of a bite the moon had taken out of the sun, checking NASA's website and announcing when we could see the sun's corona in Oregon. Then 7 minutes away from totality here in the Nashville-area, he melted down in absolute terror.  

With the shift in temperature and light, overwhelming fear descended upon him as he became aware that he was about to experience for himself what he had only read or talked about or experienced through the stories of others.  

Being in total darkness during the daytime and seeing the diamond ring effect in-person sank into his little mind.  He was nearly inconsolable as we all laid down on a blanket in our front yard to look up into the sky through eclipse glasses.  All of us were trying to pay attention to the moon while at the same time reassure him.  Even as he was being held tightly by his daddy, he was still yelling, "I'm scared, I'm scared!" as the sun and moon approached perfect alignment.

Then totality happened.  

We took off our glasses and gazed at a sight so other-worldly that we sat bolt upright.  At that very instant, his fears fled just like the Psalmist said they would!  

He then proceeded to melt down because after seeing it, he wanted more than a taste (just as the Psalmist said he would)! 

As a spiritual director, I witness a similar scene with silent retreats.  

People sign up for a silent retreat full of anticipation.  It is something unique they have never done before and in this culture it's also very rare (even among Christians).  They tell friends and family who laugh or scratch their heads not knowing why someone would pay to go be in silence!  

Then the day comes.  It's about to become real.

Some are nearly hyperventilating due to anxiety (that's no exaggeration). Getting ready to head into extended silence for the first time brings all kinds of fears to the surface.    

Yet at some point, as they slowly sink into the Silence, they begin to align with the Spirit of God within them (who has been there the whole time, holding them even as they've inwardly screamed, "I'm scared!  I'm scared!").  

Then totality happens.  
And this indescribable union with the Beloved sends their fears fleeing.  

At the end of the retreat, the very people who were so full of panic at the beginning are now in tears because they want the experience to last longer.  They find themselves fumbling to find the words to describe what their tears are already saying...that was epic.  

• Interested in a silent retreat?  No need to wait 7 years!  Check out the upcoming retreats.

​  


 

​Do you really think
more thinking is
needed right now?

Especially when what
we're dealing with is a
sickness of the mind!

With sad eyes
the soul whispers
“Stop” (as it always has)

Did Saint Paul not say 
the same to the good folks
of Galatia?

With a humble heart
(admitting the -ism
existing in yourself)
sit in Silence

Without mistaking such
Silence for absence
or worse, indifference!

The soul knows
how to wait
for salvation from
its Source.

And do you remember
Jesus speaking to his disciples--
What does it take for some
demonic powers to leave?

Prayer and fasting.
So ask,
then close your lips and listen.

Until clenched fists open
until anxiety and anger
slip through your fingers

Until you receive
in your now-ready head,
heart, and hands
​
that which you are to give
for the healing of this,
your world.

What would you call a man who shovels his driveway in a blizzard?
How often I am like that man!
Any season of the year, I can be caught with my proverbial shovel in hand.

This morning I'm thinking back to another man.
A farmer who was also a pastor of one church and a handyman for another.  
Keep this fact in mind.

He used to begin his mornings sitting in the dark, seated at a table in silence (or I began my mornings seeing him seated in the dark at a table in silence).  
Only a coffee mug close at hand.

The first time he startled me.  Six in the morning.  I was in the building earlier than any other staff member (I had thought).  Certainly not expecting to see the shadow of
someone in the side room!  

But soon I became accustomed to him sipping his coffee with the lights out.  Not moving until the sun came through the window.  I came early with an armload and head-full of work to get to, I had no time to sit and stare.  

Rumor among our large staff was that he was lazy.  They, too, would see him sitting while they rushed in and out of their daily blizzard of ministry activity.  Who had time for such an outlandish thing? 

One day I stopped and asked him what he did in the silent darkness of the church basement.  
He smiled and after taking a sip said, 
"I wait and let the pieces fall into place for the day." ​

It's the first day of middle school for my daughter. 

In June, a handful of 6th grade girls met in my living room for their first summer prayer group. The practice I had picked out for them was a prayer inviting them to receive God's love through the person who loves them most (I wrote about the practice in an earlier post).

When they closed their eyes, I told them to bring a person who loves them most to mind and consider what special gift that person offers them.  Then after they silently expressed gratitude for that person, I asked them if they could receive that this person is a "face of God."  And the way this person loves them is the very way God was offering them love right that moment!  After a few more moments in silence, they spent some time journaling and then we opened the time for sharing. 

Guess what?  The special gift of the people that came to each of their minds was the same!  
This should offer us some insight.

What was the gift?  How was God wanting to love them?  Through playfulness and humor!

Was this your image of God in middle school?  Is this part of your image of God now?  

Yet it is the very image that God, the Originator of Playfulness and Creator of Humor, wanted to share with them.  It makes sense too, doesn't it?  They (and their parents) will need tons of playfulness and a life-giving sense of humor as they enter and seek to survive middle school!  

And on this morning, God has not disappointed.  The person my daughter brought to mind in June, her little brother, had her giggling with his silliness and the way he accidentally swapped words around when he said, "The mow looks perfectly yarded!" She laughed all the way to the bus stop.  

I could not have asked for a better way to begin her first day of middle school.    
It was the perfect reminder to her nervous parents that the playful, humorous God was near.

• Can you allow God to love you with playfulness and humor today?  
• Is there an area of your life in which you need the playfulness and humor of God?  
• If you find it difficult, you might prayerfully ask to be shown God's humor and playfulness this week.