Let Your Life Speak
“Then Eli realized that the Lord was calling the boy. So Eli told Samuel, “Go and lie down, and if he calls you, say, ‘Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.’” So Samuel went and lay down in his place”
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One of my favorite “call stories” in the bible is the story of Samuel. It’s the middle of the night, and Samuel hears someone calling him. He assumes that it is the priest, Eli. After some back and forth, the wise mentor realizes that it is God who is calling Samuel.
He guides Samuel to go back and lie down, and the next time that Samuel hears God calling, Samuel should reply with “Speak. I am listening.”
There are so many voices in our lives, that sometimes it can be hard to discern which one we should listen to and follow. We can make positive and negative assumptions about some of these voices, which makes it even more difficult to know what to do.
The reason why I love the story of Samuel’s call is that he needs someone else to help him discern the voice he was hearing. He didn’t realize he was doing that; he simply thought that he was responding to his friend calling to him.
Like Samuel, we each need people in our lives that know us well enough to help us recognize who it is that is calling out to us. Hopefully you have someone in your life that is your Eli; someone who cares about you enough to tell you what you need to hear, even if it isn’t what you expect or knew you needed to hear.
“Like Samuel, we each need people in our lives that know us well enough to help us recognize who it is that is calling out to us. ”
One of these people for me is my friend Dan.
Dan and I worked together when I lived in Richmond. He was my first supervisor when I stepped into a ministry role on the church staff, but we have remained friends and peers in ministry over the years.
We worked as a team over a summer when the senior pastor was out on sabbatical. That summer was filled with so much learning for us both, and while we each appreciated what we learned, how we learned it wasn’t always easy. Dan and I leaned on each other a lot that summer as we each lived into parts of our pastoral identity that we’d not discovered before.
At the end of the summer, Dan wrote me a note. There is part in it that I will never forget. He said,
“Kristen, I see potential in you beyond what you see in yourself, and I hope you will come to trust yourself and that voice inside you that tells you who you are.”
I recently had an opportunity to go visit Dan and his wife, who now live in Colorado. And while we were sitting outside one beautiful, cool afternoon, Dan asked me if there was an author that I turned to when I needed to be “pastored” to.
For those of us who work in the church and pastor other people, it is equally important for us to find people who can pastor us. These pastors may not be people we know personally, but rather are authors who speak truth into our lives through their words on a page.
When I was first exploring my call to ministry while in high school, I was introduced to Parker Palmer’s book Let Your Life Speak. This 100-page or so book quickly became one of those books I knew I would turn to again and again.
It is one I read when things are hard and I’m wondering if being a pastor is really what I am supposed to be doing. I read it when things are going great, and the words affirm that I am exactly where God called me to be. And I read it when I need to feel at home; it is one of those books that speaks to my heart and soul any time I pick it up, and I always connect with a different part of it when I am reading it.
I was re-reading this book while I was in Colorado, because I knew that when I returned, I would begin the process of ending my time at FBCD and prepare to begin a new chapter at the new church I would soon be serving.
It felt like now was a good time to pick up Palmer’s book again and read it. Each day, I would open the book and read a few pages and be reminded of who I am.
“Before I can tell my life what I want to do with it, I must listen to my life telling me who I am.”
One of my favorite quotes in the book says, “Before I can tell my life what I want to do with it, I must listen to my life telling me who I am.”
This is what “calling” is all about. It is about listening carefully enough that you can hear the voice that is deeply a part of you, who knows exactly who you were created to be, and to follow what it says.
You can be called to do anything with your life- teach, heal, fix, lead, share, create. You can be called to different things over the course of your life.
You may even find yourself wandering and wondering who your life says you are, or finding yourself distracted by other things.
If we find ourselves focused on the distractions for too long, we can drift off course and forget who it is we were told to be. If we allow too many voices to fill our heads, it can be hard to hear that voice that is speaking to us.
Palmer says, “The soul speaks its truth only under quiet, inviting, and trustworthy conditions.”
Many generations ago, a young boy was in a quiet, dark room when he heard a Voice. And with the support of a trusted friend, that boy responded with, “Speak. I am listening.”
And the Voice told him who he was. And his life was forever changed.
Friends, may you find connections with people you can trust to believe in you when you may not believe in yourself.
May you find times and spaces filled with quiet, invitation, and trust.
May your soul be so in tune with your Voice that your life can speak to those around you.
And may you always be ready to respond with “Speak. I am listening.”
May it be so. Amen.
Rev. Kristen Koger
Former Pastor for Children & Families