Duty, Mission, Vocation, Work: Calling

It has been said before by others, and me that one of the greatest benefits to being single is the flexibility this lifestyle affords. However with all of that flexibility, comes another challenge, that of having too many options! Because there are so many options in life for career, schooling, and even places to live, from Vietnam to Venice Beach California, with Cedar Rapids Iowa in the middle. Our culture is such now that we don’t have to stay on the family farm and help milk the cows, raise the younger siblings, and pluck the chicken for dinner.

In our mobile world, we can sell all we own and travel the world, or move to the mountains of Montana and run an E-business. We can move to Silicon Valley to make our millions or become a commercial fisherman and sea boat captain in Maine.

With all of these choices and everything in between, it can lead to some confusion and wonder what they should do with their lives. Sometimes all of these choices can become overwhelming to the point we find an option and just stick with it – even if it is not the best choice for us. We can sometimes get “comfortable” in our selection, to the point where we stunt our growth and become stagnant in our lives.

Precious few it would seem come out of the womb “knowing what they want to do when they grow up” and lead their lives in pursuit of said knowledge. Others it would seem are “called” to their respective professions. Pastors for instance often recount the time when they were “called to preach”. Not everyone is so fortunate.

While I definitely do not feel called to preach, I do feel as though I have been called to write. It is an itch in the hand, a desire of the heart. At times, words seem to fall from my fingers as leaves from the old oak trees in autumn. At times, it is my hope that my words, like seeds in a garden, grow into memorial flowers in the lives of others. At times, it is just for me.

Recently, I had the opportunity to once again present for the Breathe Writers Conference Blog on the topic of “What it means to you to be called to write” so without further ado, if you feel so inclined, here is my “calling”:

“As the west wind blows – so is the rambling flow of verse from the heart of mine, to the gaze of you.

Perhaps, I was too young to understand, but I remember in elementary school our class was having a writing workshop and how badly I wanted to submit something (I don’t remember if there was a prize included or not.) Truth be told, I don’t even remember if I submitted anything for the exercise. But I am pretty sure that was my initial call to become a writer. Never before had I such a burning desire to do anything, besides of course, going to Disney World.

Later, astride my 10-speed bicycle, as I was practicing for the pursuit of my dream of becoming a professional cyclist, and despite my cluelessness on how to make that happen, I wrote what would become the first of many poems. I would later come to call them “cryptic, lyrical messages” as many were written as a tide of emotion rushing to fill a causeway. This, I believe, was the clarion call, the moment when I discovered I could write and at times the velocity at which I had to write in order to catch the thought before it disseminated, disintegrated into nothing. All the more shoring up any disbelief, this was something I must do.

My hope had always been that my poetry might appear in a high school literature textbook, finding a resting place with some of the younger generations. I was fairly certain that they might find identity, solace or perhaps consolation of not being alone in their feelings.

Now, I am the voice behind the WordPress blog “Single slice of cheese” hoping to find a lodging place in the hearts and minds of others like me who are of the single side of the coin. It is my aim here to share the anguish, joy and other array of emotions that come with this state of life. I share from my life thoughts and ideas on a variety of topics. I look at this as more than a cathartic exercise, I hope it provides comfort like a warm blanket or perhaps an insight or even an “aha moment”. I am looking to give a voice, to the often unspoken.