Let's Talk About Callings

I've been thinking a lot about callings recently.

I hear, "God is calling me to..." "He's been called by God..." and "If God is calling you..." all the time.

But what happens when you have an idea of what God might be calling you to, so you chase it with all your might, and then suddenly He takes it away?

What happens when after He takes it away, there is nothing to replace it? Or multiple things that might replace it, but nothing FEELS like a calling?

I heard someone say once that not everyone has a "calling."

Does everyone have a calling?

Do I have a calling?

What is a calling?

Am I totally misunderstanding what a calling is anyway?

Sometimes I've heard that you need to just pick something, and God will lead you when you do. But usually I've thought that that thing will either turn out to be your calling, or God will call you in the midst of your action.

Does that always happen?

If you choose something else, have you missed your calling?

All of a sudden I realized, life is not all about one thing! We think so much about working toward a career, or building a ministry, but so often that doesn't even happen til you're at least in your twenties, and even then it doesn't materialize for everyone. Life has purpose before you've reached that!

If you die in a car accident when you're six, did you not have a calling?

If you die of cancer when you're fifty and have a career and through it people come to know the Lord, which was your calling, your career, or cancer?

So then I thought, what is THE greatest calling? The answer came pretty quick, I've always known it.

"Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, soul, mind, and strength."

EVERYONE has a calling.

Everyone has the same calling.

No matter what I pick, or what falls through, I can fulfil my calling.

I don't know what I believe, honestly, about individual callings. I do believe that God calls some people to specific areas of ministry or career paths, but do I believe He calls EVERYONE to something specific? I don't know.

I do know that Jesus has first and foremost called me to love Him, and I like that calling best of all.