Living Out Our Call
“A man going on a journey
called in his servants and entrusted his possessions to them.
To one he gave five talents; to another, two; to a third, one--
to each according to his ability.
Then he went away.”
Matthew 25:14-15
When was the last time you thought about how well you’re living out your call? Or the last time you thought about your gifts and talents? Each one of us is endowed with certain gifts and talents that can help build up the Kingdom, but sometimes we may choose to use them for other ends or not use them at all.
The Lord tells a parable to His disciples about a man who before leaving for a journey entrusts his possessions to his servants, “each according to his ability.” Then the parable goes on with what each servant did with the “talents” (money): the ones with the most traded them or invested them and multiplied the talents, but the one with the least out of fear hid the talent in the ground. When the man comes back he praises the two who used the talents wisely and entrusts to them greater responsibilities but scolds the servant who hid the talent when he could have simply placed it in the bank so that it could at least earn some interest. This last servant was cast out into the darkness. If we were to read this literally, we may think that Jesus is overly concerned about money, but Our Lord was trying to convey a deeper message, a message that concerns us, our calling, and our salvation.
Each one of us has been created by God out of love — despite our struggles and challenges or upbringing, we are each the product of the eternal Love of God — and has been given different talents and gifts. These talents and gifts perhaps helped us discern what we want to do with our lives — our jobs, our careers, our professions, our callings. We have each been called by God to play a role in the life here on earth that will lead us back to Him in heaven. What is your calling? Our calling isn’t necessary simply what we are “good at,” but rather that ways in which we can realize God’s will for our lives here on earth. Wherever we are in our lives, God’s will can be realized.
If we are teachers, our calling is to be the best educator we can be, not measured by how much material we can cover, but rather how we come to encounter God in each one of our students and how we remind our students of how much they are loved by God. If we are politicians, our calling is to listen not simply with our ears but our hearts to those whom we have vowed and promised to serve and do that well. If we are office workers, our calling isn’t simply fulfilling our quota of work or checking off every task on our to-do list, but also to get to know how colleagues, to see them, to listen to them, to serve them, to help them, and to share with them when appropriate and as appropriate how God has worked in our lives, not in an attempt to proselytize, but rather to simply convey and share what is important to you.
At the crux of all our callings is relationship. All of our relationships ought to be anchored and rooted in the one relationship that truly sustains us and points us in the right direction — our relationship with God. So, if we are saying to ourselves, “I am not sure what my calling is,” perhaps we do not yet know the One who calls us. When we grow in our relationship with the One who calls us, our loving God, we will come to know what our calling is and where He is leading us to live out that call. There is no greater joy and enduring peace than when we are living out the calling to which we have been called and using the gifts and talents given to us in building each other up. You are called and you are loved!
