"The Lord then came and stood by Samuel, calling as He had done before: Samuel, Samuel. Samuel answered: Speak Lord, your servant if listening."
Book of Samuel
This scripture reference has to do with the call of Samuel. It's a beautiful story about a young boy who, during a time of quiet retirement, kept hearing his name being called. Thinking it might be his custodian, the chief priest Eli, he goes running to him to see what he wanted. And, of course, it was not the chief priest at all.
We imagine a lot of mystery surrounding a vocational call. As a result, stories such as this catch our attention and interest. But if we examine closely those intuitively experiences of being drawn to respond to life's events, we discover that most are fairly common and quite ordinary. Do you have recollections of your own unique call from the Lord? What is it that puts that desire on your heart and motivates you to attend a church service, visit a friend in the hospital, or volunteer for some needed service? These responses can often feel quite ordinary and undramatic.
If we look at these responses closely, we will find certain characteristics that are common to all. They usually occur during times of quiet. These are the times when we are most attentive to the urgings of the Spirit within us. They usually happen when our focus is on prayer, in whatever form that may take for us. It might happen when reflecting on a line of scripture, doing some spiritual reading, or just placing ourselves quietly before the Lord. These are times when we are freed from the distractions of our busy day, when we can let go of our goals, agendas, plans which constantly seem to be churning in our minds. These times could be described as moments of "attentive listening". "Speak Lord, your servant is listening."
Jesus was a master at "attentive listening". Scripture often has Jesus pulling away from all the activity and hub bub, to go to a quiet place, alone, to pray and to listen.
In the first chapter of the Gospel of Mark, we read the story of Jesus healing Simon's mother-in-law, and then welcoming many of the people of that town who come with all sorts of illnesses and infirmities. Jesus impresses them with His ability to help them. But when the opportunity comes, He draws away to a quiet place to pray. Jesus was not one to get caught up in the goals, plans and expectations of those around Him. He experienced the need to respond to the still quiet voice from within, and not be driven by past successes or failures. Take note of the difference between Him and His disciples. They were still caught up in the excitement of the previous day. In their excitement, they probably wanted a repeat performance. "Everyone is looking for you"; they said to Jesus after they found Him. Jesus' response, based on quiet prayer, must have been a disappointment to them. "Let us go elsewhere, to the neighboring country sides, so that I can teach there, because this is why I came."
How do you experience your own unique call from the Lord? Giving witness to this in one way we have to spread the faith of Christ to others. Let us pray that our own unique call may be a source of inspiration to others to help them discover theirs as well.
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