LIFE
Are You Refusing Your Call from God?
The worst part is, most don’t even realize it.
Every now and again, life shows up at your front door, doesn’t it? But it doesn’t just show up, it breaks the fucking door down with a sledgehammer laced with teeth.
Surprise!
Its malevolent mace insidiously interferes with everything that was once calm, clear, and predictable.
If you’re like me, when the shit hits the fan, you pray. But you’re not really praying, are you? You’re asking God for a sign. A compass. Even a slight nudge to create momentum to get you out of this mess would suffice.
Paradox incoming. We get on our hands and knees begging our creator for a sign to lead us, and yet when He delivers, we refuse to sign. What’s more, we often reject it.
Why do we do this? Are we nothing more than gluttons for punishment?
There’s a timeless art form of storytelling made famous by Joseph Campbell called, “The Hero’s Journey” — there are twelve parts in all, but today we’ll focus on the first three.
Part 1: The Ordinary World
This is life as you know it before it arrives at your doorstep with bad intentions. It is your safe place. You’re in control of everything. Like an octopus with tentacles, with an arm on all life’s variables.
Part 2: Call to Adventure
Wham! Life shows up. It is the epiphany of destabilization to your stable, ordinary world. Your “Call” could be anything: bankruptcy, a gunshot, or a phone call delivering bad news.
Spoiler alert: if you do nothing, it only gets worse. Consider this your call to action.
Part 3: Refusal of the Call
Life feels like it’s closing in around you. Even your clothes seem tighter, like they’re trying to gag you. Your skin is pebbled in liquid fright, and panic is near.
You pray to God and ask Him for a sign, “Just show me what to do, Lord, and I will.” — sound familiar?
Yet, when an opportunity lands in your lap, (an email, a direct message, a phone call, etc.) you immediately have second thoughts, don’t you?
While you’re eager to accept, fear and lack of worth eats away at you like a rat trapped in your gut. Your deep personal doubts seem impossible to overcome, and so you refuse the Call from God.
And then you continue to suffer as a result.
Instead of Reacting, Reflect and Respond.
When the Call to Adventure presents itself, what is our knee jerk reaction? If you’re like me, you dismiss it before it has the chance to grow legs, (you know, the legs that will carry you out of the mess you’re in?).
And so the question remains: why do we do this? The answer is simple: we get exactly what we ask for. What we pray for.
- I prayed for a sign, but that wasn’t the one I was looking for.
- I asked for help, but I’d prefer a different kind.
- I’d do anything to fix my situation, but I won’t do that.
We pray for a solution to our problem, no matter how protean. A sign to steer us. The way out. And yet when God answers our prayer, we refuse it without thinking twice. At least that’s what I’ve done the past thirty-years, and the Law of Averages tells me I can’t be alone.
It isn’t my intention to grand stand as a fountain of knowledge, or a life coach. My intention is simply to be of service: because I have — more often than not, I’m ashamed to admit — refused God’s Call to Adventure, which has led to meaningless suffering.
Had I just taken a moment to reflect, instead of react, to the answer to my prayers, I would have responded more like an adult and less like a brat.
Perhaps life has shown up at your door recently. Maybe you’re broke, hurting, alone, or scared. Can you reflect back on your ask of God and see if you have yet to respond to His ask of you?
“If you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.” — Wayne Dyer
