God's Chisel - The Skit Guys: vocation + calling

This is a thought-provoking, well written sketch (or skit as they say in the States) that relates to a key idea about vocation: following God's call, whatever that might be, requires a stripping away of "self", a handing over of every aspect of my life in total trust to Him who created me... and that this is never easy.

But, as I say to my pupils, I truly believe that following the individual, personal call that God offers to each of us (whether it be to married life, to religious life, to the priesthood, to being a teacher, a nurse, a social worker, a fireman, a bio-chemist...) is the ONLY way to true, lasting happiness and fulfilment.

It is a calling that is renewed each day, according to the way we respond to it, and our response has to be renewed each day. It is never once-and-for-all. And though it may sometimes be very difficult to let go of our own desires, our own preferences, our own intellectual reasoning, if we do manage to do this, the rewards will astound us.

As Jesus says to his disciples (Mark 10:29-30)

“I tell you the truth, there is no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for my sake and for the sake of the gospel who will not receive in this age a hundred times as much – homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children, fields, all with persecutions – and in the age to come, eternal life."

I'm reminded of the words of a Coldplay song, "The Scientist", one of my all-time favourites:

"Nobody said it was easy,
No-one ever said it would be so hard,
I'm going back to the start."

Each morning, I try to go back to the start, to go back to God and start again, start afresh. I try not to dwell in the past, but rather move ahead, following in the footsteps of Jesus and my congregation's Founder, Jean-Marie De La Mennais. Though I know I am so unworthy in my own eyes, I trust that God knows what he is doing. Which is good, because very often I don't know what I'm doing... seeds sown, shots in the dark... do they ever make a difference? "Keep sowing, feed my sheep.!"