There were a
lot of times in my career when I was asked to do something that made no sense
whatsoever to me. I couldn’t see the
benefit to me or for my customers. That
is, until I realized that my assignment was just one piece of a larger plan to
improve our service, and lead to better profits and of course a pay raise for
me. The tasks assigned to me were unique
to my specific talents and skill set according to my boss, and the only one who
knew the whole plan was him. Sometimes,
it was easy to accomplish my tasks quickly and proficiently because the
instructions were clear-cut, and all I had to do was follow directions. But at other times, I really had a hard time being
productive because I couldn’t clearly see the end goal, or I overestimated my
ability to get the job done. I was
frequently frustrated and impatient. One
of the problems was that I couldn’t say no to my boss when he asked me to do
something, so I would take on too many challenges at once—causing me to fail so
miserably in all of them that it would result in his lack of confidence and
worse, his trust in me. I think letting
him—and the rest of the team down is what hurt me the most. It’s like the old analogy of the links of a
chain. A chain is only as strong as its
weakest link. If I had been more
discerning in what I took on, I would have been one of the stronger links,
rather than one of the weakest.
To his
credit, my boss was always willing to give me a 2nd, 3rd,
4th chance when I overextended myself. He took the time to teach me how to discern
my abilities as he saw them, and in all humility I believe I was quite
successful later on in my career as a result of his ‘cultivation’ of my particular
talents.
St. Paul
tells the Ephesians (and us) about the unique gifts God has given each so that
they might fulfill His plan (Ephesians 4:7-16).
It’s up to each of us to discern what God is calling us to do with those
gifts. This is a lifelong process, not
just the call to a certain profession or way of life, but the many calls within
that profession or way of life and the calls in all of our activities and
encounters with others.
There are
times in our lives when we find it fairly easy, when things seem to fall in
place and the “call” is quite clear; it’s like we’re being led and all we have
to do is follow. These are not
necessarily simple things to do, it’s just that the clarity of the call seems
to be in bold letters. Other times, we
find ourselves struggling to sort out what the real call is. In my own life lately, I see so many
possibilities and I’m struggling with what the real call is; none are in
capital letters to guide me.
I think part
of the struggle is related to getting older and knowing that I won’t have time
to do everything. It also comes from the
regret for not always following the call to serve God in a more intentional and
complete way.
In a way I
feel like the fig tree in the gospel of Luke (Luke 13:1-9). This is an image that reflects our souls many
times. Often in life we can fall into a
rut and our relationship with God and others struggles. As a result, our lives bear little or no good
fruit. I wouldn’t say that my life has
been barren, but I know that there was much more fruit I could have borne had I
been open to the more subtle calls from God.
Perhaps this
isn’t you at the present moment, but perhaps it is. Perhaps your life is strongly grounded in
Christ or perhaps you’re greatly struggling.
If you’re struggling, try to see yourself as this fig tree. And try to see the person who commits to “cultivate
the ground around it and fertilize it” as Jesus Himself.
It’s
important to note that Jesus didn’t look at this fig tree and discard it as
worthless. He’s a God of second chances
and He’s committed to caring for this fig tree in such a way as to offer it
every necessary opportunity to bear fruit.
So it is with us. Jesus never
just throws us away, regardless of how far we’ve strayed. He’s always ready and willing to reach out to
us in the ways we need so that our lives can once again bear much fruit.
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