Thursday, September 02, 2004
You rang?
The word of the day is "calling." What is my "calling"? Am I "called" to be here (here, as in seminary)? I'm feeling more secure with the latter question than the former.

But I think my big problem comes with the terminology. The concept of God's "calling" and the idea of "I'm where God wants me to be" set me ill at ease. I sense in them means of shirking personal responsibility and initiation. They can easily become thin-veneered excuses of taking an easy way out or sitting still where it's comfortable. I get it all tangled in the "God's will" problem, I suppose. I can't believe in a predetermined plan because that discounts God's gift of free will. I have to believe that God presents us with choices at every juncture. Yet this is nothing like a multiple-choice test with only one right answer, and all the other options "missing God's will." Life is not a choose-your-own-adventure novel where only one set of circumstances leads to the happy and clean conclusion. I'd prefer to see it that life's a mess whatever choices you make along the way.

If I am to believe that God is a benevolent Father than I have to believe in a God who endows me with a great variety of potential, who does not limit me one way or another, who establishes parameters and leaves me to decide, who not only respects but celebrates my own will and desires with those options.

God provides choice.

posted by Peter at 9:26 AM
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