made for this.
"God made you. And God does not make junk." Have you ever thought that who you are in this very second is exactly the person God had in mind when He created you? Do you realize that the person you will be by the end of your life He also already knew? Do you know that every single part of you was created by God for a reason and a purpose? Do you know that no part of you is junk?
What if you did know? What if you fully comprehended that the answers to all these questions are a resounding YES?
The stars had been shining in the skies above us for hours. The room was pitch black. And as we each laid on the ten bunk beds squished inside the tiny cabin, we spent hours chit chatting the night away. We knew our alarms would be blaring in only a matter of hours but we could not help but keep talking. There was business to be taken care of, after all, we had futures to plan!
I guess it is something that you do not really think about until a guy poses the question, "What do girls really talk about?"
But, luckily with our hours of talking the night before, we were fresh on the heels of some quality girl talk and we knew exactly the answers. Girls talk about a few things. But, if our cabin was any indication, girls like to talk about soul mates and babies and the exciting hopes for the future.
We literally planned out entire futures, created proposal ideas, picked wedding dates, and named babies. We spent what could have been precious "sleep time" to create this imaginary future. And the funny thing is, sure some of those plans may actually happen, but the truth is we know a good chunk of them also will not. But we love talking about it anyways. We love planning, and bouncing ideas back and forth, and thinking about the variety of futures that may eventually be ours.
And why? Why do we spend so much time in these silly and crazy conversations? Ultimately, I think all of us are seeking a future that captures happiness. I think we long for those moments when we feel fulfilled. We want the desires of our hearts to be realized in full and if we throw around scenarios of how those desires could one day be fulfilled, we find a certain sense of hope.
And then the word vocations appears. And automatically, we become terrified.
As the weekend went on, our cabin continued this ongoing banter and we were constantly being presented with this idea of vocations. Vocation is defined as "a summons or strong inclination to a particular state or course of action". I think at first mention of the word vocation, we almost cringe in our seats. Especially as Catholics, we expect it to be followed by the two options of priest or nun. But the definition above tells us something more. Of course, those are a few possible and beautiful vocations, but the truth is there are more. What inclination has God given you?
Sure, with endless possibilities for what the future may look like or who God might be calling you to be, discovering this call can be frightening to say the least. It is easy to picture a life unfolding the way we want it. It is terrifying thinking it may unfold in a way we did not want. And sure, hearing the call from God may be scary. And it may take some courage, and it may require some work. But you know what is scarier than discovering a future God called you to, picturing a future without the call of God!
God, see He KNEW completely who He created you to be. He knows exactly who He wants you to become. And when it comes down to it, a vocation is nothing more or less than discovering perfectly who that is. We sit, and talk, and lay awake at night planning our futures because, to be honest, we want to know who that person is that God had in mind when He created us. We want to reach that moment when the desire of our hearts are truly coming alive. And we, apart from God cannot do that. But how amazing is it that in the same respect, we, with God, are able to discover what will lead us to that place.
We can make a million plans. We can stick with our plans, set them in stone, and we can give being happy with them a shot. Or, we can wait for God to reveal step by step His plans for us, and know without a doubt that in following those plans, as challenging or unexpected as they may be, we will be fulfilled.
Every single part of you is the way it is because God had a plan in mind. Trust in that plan. Let Him reveal to you, slowly but surely, how the person you were at the moment you were created, the person you are today, and who you will be twenty years from now all fit perfectly into the vessel of grace God planned for you to be in this world.
The word vocation is not scary. It should not make us cringe in our seat or want to hide. Instead it is the very thing we spend so much of our lives hoping to discover. When you KNOW what God has created you for and when you discover how every thing has shaped you for that role perfectly, there is no other plan you would ever want to follow. No other plan that could ever stand a chance.
Stop being afraid. YOU were made for this! The greatest call God has for you is also the greatest means for you to discover Heaven. If we are not living for that, than what are we living for?
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