Leaving Normal

April 2009

The phone call was a total surprise. “I’ve decided to leave my job,” a friend told me, “and go into business for myself.” The position she was leaving was a coveted one, with high pay and prestige to spare. Going off to start her own company was risky and plenty of people thought she was crazy. But my friend felt called in other directions. After much soul searching, my friend decided to do what I call “leaving normal.” Despite having what looked like the perfect job and life, my friend didn’t feel her true gifts were fully engaged. It was time for her to move closer to what she sensed God was asking of her.

Sometimes God does ask for dramatic changes in life. The story of Esther, examined in this issue, is one such story. God asked Esther to risk her very life to help her people. But not all divine calls involve such high drama.

Think of Lydia in Acts. Upon hearing the Apostle Paul, she was converted and her household was baptized. Her outward life changed little, from what we know, but the focus of her life changed completely. The scary part about living a faithful life, however, is that we can’t know what God will ask of us. The best we can do is to listen for God’s hopes and dreams and respond at whatever level we can.

In my own experience, while God hopes we’ll say yes to a sense of call, God is willing to take no for an answer. As Mordecai tells Esther as she faces God’s call to help her people: “[I]f you keep silence at such a time as this, relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another quarter.” There are times in our lives when we’re simply not ready to say “yes,” or when moving forward must be postponed for good reasons. God’s hopes and plans for the world do not rest entirely on our shoulders alone.

But if God really wants us to move in a given direction, God will keep asking. In fact that’s one of the most reliable signs of a true call. It has a way of coming up over and over. It’s worth paying attention when that happens.

If I had my choice, I’d take a call like Lydia’s. It isn’t that her call wasn’t important, but she didn’t have to give up her business and community life to fulfill it. Some of what God asks of us, however, will be scarier than that. Perhaps the best preparation we can make for whatever may lie ahead is to pray with St. Patrick:

May the strength of God pilot us,
may the power of God preserve us,
may the wisdom of God instruct us,
may the hand of God protect us,
may the way of God direct us,
may the shield of God defend us,
may the host of God guard us
against the snares of evil
and the temptations of the world.

Oh, in case you’re wondering about my friend, she loves her new work and her company is thriving.

Debra K. Farrington is a retreat leader and has written eight books of Christian spirituality. Her Web site is www.debrafarrington.com.