Answering the Call – an Introduction
No matter what you name the stirring inside of you, it is a hunger that needs to be fed. For me, it has been spiritual in nature. It is a fond desire to touch the divine, to be a part of something greater than myself. For you it might be to travel into places that need the hands and hearts of servants. Or it might be funding research to find a cure to some disease the plagues society. These would all be defined as a Call.
The first element of answering the Call is one of urgency. Are you compelled by an overwhelming sense of necessity to move beyond yourself and help others? This restlessness compels you in ways that just don’t make any sense. You might feel the need to run off to Africa and help the needy children of the many drought-ridden countries. Maybe for you the Call is more basic, foundational in nature.
Do you lose sleep at night wondering if this is all there is to life? You have achieved a degree of success or prestige, but there is still a void or hole in your soul. You find that the more material wealth you accumulate, the less secure you really feel. You reflect back at the moments of greatness, but are left with a hunger knowing that it was just a hollow snapshot hanging on your office wall.
Perhaps it isn’t anything that nags at you or your conscience at all. It might be the sense that all the activity you pursue just isn’t adding up the satisfaction you thought it might bring. There might be a disconnected feeling where you almost drift from day to day with out being fully engaged in the word around you. It may show itself as a cog out of place in the mechanics of your Ã?¯Ã?¿Ã?½world’.
Whatever the explanation is for your need or thirst for significance, I want to help you take the first step in that journey to satisfying the Call. Now that you have an idea about the urgency of the Call, let’s cover where to take the Call. I’m going to lay out the journey as a Ã?¯Ã?¿Ã?½roadmap’ with Ã?¯Ã?¿Ã?½milestones’ along the way. Much like a road trip or journey to a new place, the key to getting the most out of the excursion is to remember that the joy is in the process of getting from here to there.
You must realize that doing your part to answer your Call is really where the greatest fulfillment comes from. Any achievement or recognition that you receive for your contribution is only reinforcement to help you carry on to the next day. Don’t every fool yourself into believing that you have arrived when someone decides to hand you a plaque, dedicate a building in your name or offer some other temporary memorial to you. It is only the beginning of a life that will in with a sense of peace knowing that you spent yourself being greater than your own expectations.
