This blog is posted to answer questions from a comment by Arch on Part 2. Since Blogger would not allow me to post a comment after his, and I could not work out why!
His Question:
Is calling an internal or an external thing? Meaning do you regard it as something God asks of you, or is it something you choose to do? I guess the two are not exclusive, but I'm wondering if you have a different name for something God asks of you and something you feel compelled to do?
My answer:
Hi Arch,
The calling I feel in my heart, and 'know' in my soul, is a very internal reaction. It is based in calmness, peace and healing (though, having ego, I might not always react that way). All of us were created through the energy of love and curiosity. In other words, we appear to mirror our creator. Given the right circumstances, humans are capable of incredible Love; and when we are of a balanced mind and emotions, we become incredibly creative .. in a million different ways.
Created from love, we express love (give out the vibes/energy) when we are happy and satisfied, and the opposite when we are not. When we 'live' our calling, we share that love with the world in many forms, some more obvious than others. If you are Christian you might call it God's love; the Wiccans see the Goddess' love .. and then there is the 'wisdom' of Buddha or Confuscius, each of whom taught love in different ways. Here, then, is a very stong central theme .. Love.
A calling is something that satisfies our internal need to give love through external action. A person called to serve God might do so by praying all their waking hours. The act of praying answers an internal need, the external action might answer someone else's need to believe that people are capable of sacrificing their lives in prayer for others, or some other way, although they might also think them completely nuts. The Love the praying person is expressing through their prayers may change the foundations of the world, or a grieving person's heart .. and we might never know it, and nor might the person praying .. but change happens anyway. Remember the comment about the butterfly.
We were created with the gift of free will. We have the right to say no, and to control our own destinys, so I do not believe that God has asked me to do anything except be myself. I try to serve humanity in the capacity I was created to achieve. I know this from the peace it gives my soul. It is my choice to listen to the 'still quiet voice' that sometimes says 'write this' and sometimes says 'Ama, sit on your hands' (in other words, reconsider that paragraph or thought LOL). I follow because I want to, I am never 'compelled'.
In my opinion, a person may define God as anything they like, as long as they are at peace with their decision. My son says he is a Jedi .. that's fine with me.
May the force be with you,
Love & Peace
Ama
Wednesday, July 27, 2011
Monday, July 25, 2011
Called to Serve - Part 2
Continuing on my theme of what it means to be 'called' ...
What is a calling? You could describe it as a voice in your heart that asks you to do something with total focus and dedication. It is something you feel you are born to do. The example in the online dictionary was "Samantha felt 'called' to be a doctor", or you could want to be a dentist or a car mechanic. For a Christian it can be a 'calling' to follow Christ. For an athiest it could be the exact opposite, a great desire to prove that there is no intelligent awareness in the universe? I think, sometimes, the problem with a 'calling' is the intensity in which it governs your life.
As a child I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child, and yet I grew up 'knowing' I would follow God, and Christ, and help people with paranormal problems, and demonic ones. What a thing for a child of five to have to think about - particularly as it defied the teachings of the church that I went to. And then there were the thoughts and memories in my mind, of other lives, and other times, when I had done the same sort of work - and so my 'lessons' were more like memories than any formal teaching, and my teachers were angels, as well as people in the street. So the 'child' never really felt like a child, but very old, and was never sure she knew 'enough'. And yet I served, from the age of seventeen, and people, old and young, would come to me and talk and ask questions, and I generally had an answer that satisfied their need - and I bless the angels for that gift, and thank God for the angels.
To serve, or be of service, means that you must help people to find your own peace of mind. Pretending that you don't have to provides no satisfaction, nor relief. You cannot turn your back on the need to serve, anymore than you can turn your back on the desire to following your calling. People who do can become small, mean and shallow.
Following your calling means giving your heart to humanity in some cases, or to animal welfare, if that is where your calling lies. It means knowing the inside of a car upside and backwards, for a true mechanic, or being able to read the soul of a tree for those called to serve nature. It's more than an ordinary knowledge of your subject, its an indepth understanding of how the world works .. in relation to where you serve.
When you find your true purpose you 'know' it in your heart. You find a peace there that can be found in no other place, and when you do good for others, it touches the whole world .. not just the two of you .. but the love created by peace of mind ripples out into the ether, sparking other moments of enlightenment and helping others find their true hearts as well. Remember the old chinese saying 'a butterfly flapping its wings in China can cause hurricanes in the pacific' (or words to that effect), it applies here because one deed of goodness leads to another, and another .. snowballing ... and another saying, before I sign off. "It only takes a moment to make a difference."
And last of all, one of my favourites, for which we can thank Gandhi .. "be the changes you want to see in the world".
Ok .. so follow your heart and BE them.
Love & Peace
Ama
What is a calling? You could describe it as a voice in your heart that asks you to do something with total focus and dedication. It is something you feel you are born to do. The example in the online dictionary was "Samantha felt 'called' to be a doctor", or you could want to be a dentist or a car mechanic. For a Christian it can be a 'calling' to follow Christ. For an athiest it could be the exact opposite, a great desire to prove that there is no intelligent awareness in the universe? I think, sometimes, the problem with a 'calling' is the intensity in which it governs your life.
As a child I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child, and yet I grew up 'knowing' I would follow God, and Christ, and help people with paranormal problems, and demonic ones. What a thing for a child of five to have to think about - particularly as it defied the teachings of the church that I went to. And then there were the thoughts and memories in my mind, of other lives, and other times, when I had done the same sort of work - and so my 'lessons' were more like memories than any formal teaching, and my teachers were angels, as well as people in the street. So the 'child' never really felt like a child, but very old, and was never sure she knew 'enough'. And yet I served, from the age of seventeen, and people, old and young, would come to me and talk and ask questions, and I generally had an answer that satisfied their need - and I bless the angels for that gift, and thank God for the angels.
To serve, or be of service, means that you must help people to find your own peace of mind. Pretending that you don't have to provides no satisfaction, nor relief. You cannot turn your back on the need to serve, anymore than you can turn your back on the desire to following your calling. People who do can become small, mean and shallow.
Following your calling means giving your heart to humanity in some cases, or to animal welfare, if that is where your calling lies. It means knowing the inside of a car upside and backwards, for a true mechanic, or being able to read the soul of a tree for those called to serve nature. It's more than an ordinary knowledge of your subject, its an indepth understanding of how the world works .. in relation to where you serve.
When you find your true purpose you 'know' it in your heart. You find a peace there that can be found in no other place, and when you do good for others, it touches the whole world .. not just the two of you .. but the love created by peace of mind ripples out into the ether, sparking other moments of enlightenment and helping others find their true hearts as well. Remember the old chinese saying 'a butterfly flapping its wings in China can cause hurricanes in the pacific' (or words to that effect), it applies here because one deed of goodness leads to another, and another .. snowballing ... and another saying, before I sign off. "It only takes a moment to make a difference."
And last of all, one of my favourites, for which we can thank Gandhi .. "be the changes you want to see in the world".
Ok .. so follow your heart and BE them.
Love & Peace
Ama
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
Called to Serve - Part 1
.
My daughter is blogging at present. It's a pure joy to see the wisdom she has, although she is only in her twenties .. and me at her age .. well, she's a lot more grown up than I was. I was still a child then, with children, she being the youngest, and her older brother. A child raising children .. but isn't that the way?
Thinking of the actions of children led me to remember my favourite chapter in 1 Corinthians, number 13. It tells us what love is, and what it's not, and then says
Face to face - so many people are seeking what they 'are supposed to do' in this lifetime. So few of them think they find their true calling, or even recognise it when it is staring them in the face. They are so busy looking for 'grand adventures', but sometimes God simply wants them to do small things often, in kind and gentle ways.
When I was seeking I already knew my 'calling', but I was frightened to confront the reality of it, in a society that looked down upon people who were 'different', and I am very different ... though I can laugh about it now. I wanted to be like other people, not see things that others didn't, or know things they didn't, or have experiences that would frighten the hell out of most of them, but to me became part of the 'norm'. Or part of the normal. Because I wanted to be normal.
What I had lost in all that 'wanting' was that I had never been what I wanted. Being normal was not something I could go 'back' to, since it had never been there. What I was confronting was accepting that some of us are 'called to serve' in different ways, and that we have to ignore society's norms to help people who are caught up in things 'they cannot understand'. So whatever you are called to do, if it sits well in your heart, and makes you happy, then do it.
"Sits well in your heart" does not mean 'feeds your ego'. We should not glory in harming others, but in being of service to each person we meet, because this service is what is lacking in society now, so focused as we now are on 'serving' ourselves.
The ego is a child demanding attention. A frightened, lonely child who is only 'happy' when the being it governs obeys its commands, stays 'safe' and doesn't venture out of the appropriate behavours that make the ego feel protected. This is the child who spoke, thought and reasoned .. but when did we stop growing up?
Now that I am an adult I put an end to childish ways - or did I? I admit there are moments when I am hurt that I can act in childish ways. Hurt my feelings and I will 'turn the other cheek', but eventually even I run out of cheeks, and then I will say 'no more' in various ways. Sometimes simply by no longer talking to the person that has hurt me. In that way I do the least amount of harm, and I am here to do exactly that. Let me do no harm.
Every person on this planet was created to serve God (call it Spirit or Allah, or any other name that you think appropriate). Ignoring this knowledge is not going to benefit anyone. Oh, I know there are plenty of people who think God doesn't exist, and that's fine, as long as they are doing good, taking care of themselves and other people, I don't see a God in a fiery chariot coming down to smite them, just to prove s/he exists. Nor, for that matter, does 'God' smite those who do wrong .. regardless of what people are actually expecting. Sometimes I think we would all learn to be better adults if s/he did smite a few of us once in a while. But that is just an observation, and I, like the rest of humanity, know I deserve a smite or two.
Did you realise that being kind to other people was serving God? Think of it this way, there is a part of God (Holy Spirit .. or just plain Spirit) inside every person. An act of kindness to another is a way of showing love to that person, and to God. Pretty simple. God's ways are simple, clear and precise .. if what you are learning isn't, you'll know a human got to the information and complicated it. We are good at that!
My daughter asked me to write about being 'called to serve'. This is what came of the request. Expect more in part 2, but not today. LOL
Love & Peace
Ama
My daughter is blogging at present. It's a pure joy to see the wisdom she has, although she is only in her twenties .. and me at her age .. well, she's a lot more grown up than I was. I was still a child then, with children, she being the youngest, and her older brother. A child raising children .. but isn't that the way?
Thinking of the actions of children led me to remember my favourite chapter in 1 Corinthians, number 13. It tells us what love is, and what it's not, and then says
"When I was a child,
I spoke like a child,
I thought like a child,
I reasoned like a child;
when I became an adult,
I put an end to childish ways.
For now we see in a mirror, dimly,
but then we will see face to face."
Face to face - so many people are seeking what they 'are supposed to do' in this lifetime. So few of them think they find their true calling, or even recognise it when it is staring them in the face. They are so busy looking for 'grand adventures', but sometimes God simply wants them to do small things often, in kind and gentle ways.
When I was seeking I already knew my 'calling', but I was frightened to confront the reality of it, in a society that looked down upon people who were 'different', and I am very different ... though I can laugh about it now. I wanted to be like other people, not see things that others didn't, or know things they didn't, or have experiences that would frighten the hell out of most of them, but to me became part of the 'norm'. Or part of the normal. Because I wanted to be normal.
What I had lost in all that 'wanting' was that I had never been what I wanted. Being normal was not something I could go 'back' to, since it had never been there. What I was confronting was accepting that some of us are 'called to serve' in different ways, and that we have to ignore society's norms to help people who are caught up in things 'they cannot understand'. So whatever you are called to do, if it sits well in your heart, and makes you happy, then do it.
"Sits well in your heart" does not mean 'feeds your ego'. We should not glory in harming others, but in being of service to each person we meet, because this service is what is lacking in society now, so focused as we now are on 'serving' ourselves.
The ego is a child demanding attention. A frightened, lonely child who is only 'happy' when the being it governs obeys its commands, stays 'safe' and doesn't venture out of the appropriate behavours that make the ego feel protected. This is the child who spoke, thought and reasoned .. but when did we stop growing up?
Now that I am an adult I put an end to childish ways - or did I? I admit there are moments when I am hurt that I can act in childish ways. Hurt my feelings and I will 'turn the other cheek', but eventually even I run out of cheeks, and then I will say 'no more' in various ways. Sometimes simply by no longer talking to the person that has hurt me. In that way I do the least amount of harm, and I am here to do exactly that. Let me do no harm.
Every person on this planet was created to serve God (call it Spirit or Allah, or any other name that you think appropriate). Ignoring this knowledge is not going to benefit anyone. Oh, I know there are plenty of people who think God doesn't exist, and that's fine, as long as they are doing good, taking care of themselves and other people, I don't see a God in a fiery chariot coming down to smite them, just to prove s/he exists. Nor, for that matter, does 'God' smite those who do wrong .. regardless of what people are actually expecting. Sometimes I think we would all learn to be better adults if s/he did smite a few of us once in a while. But that is just an observation, and I, like the rest of humanity, know I deserve a smite or two.
Did you realise that being kind to other people was serving God? Think of it this way, there is a part of God (Holy Spirit .. or just plain Spirit) inside every person. An act of kindness to another is a way of showing love to that person, and to God. Pretty simple. God's ways are simple, clear and precise .. if what you are learning isn't, you'll know a human got to the information and complicated it. We are good at that!
My daughter asked me to write about being 'called to serve'. This is what came of the request. Expect more in part 2, but not today. LOL
Love & Peace
Ama
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