Knowing One's Call!

I have always thought I was expert on a person's "call" in life! Then I met Evie and found a person who decided in 2nd grade that she wanted to be a teacher. She has tried a few other things like Girl Friday at an insurance company where she ended sending out 1st class mail after sending out a bunch of $1.59 packages (she forgot to reset the postage machine!) and her work at Citibank for awhile where she came home one night and said, "Mark, what am I doing? I call people who have abused their Citibank credit cards and paid off thousands of dollars in debt and to have me call and try to get them to set up a new credit card account!!"

It wasn't soon afterwards she left the business world and returned to teaching where she realized her "calling"! Now I must admit there have been days when I have really resented her teaching job and the long, long hours she works each day at school and then at home creating exciting learning opportunities for students. Her goal is for every one of her students to love reading, know math and language arts (hey those are the 3Rs aren't they?. And her job is never done until Johnnie and Kathy both "get it" and can progress on to 4th grade.

Well last night her "calling" was proved to me. After a night of tossing and turning I had gotten up and headed to the Den to do some work. I had just come back to bed and was asleep when I heard Evie say, "I've got it! I've got it!" I rolled over in bed and asked, "Honey are you OK? Are you dreaming?" She responded to me, "No, I've got it! I've got it! I got it figured out how to reach a certain kid in my class!" I patted and blessed her and rolled back on my back to gain new sleep and responded with, "Evie, you are something else! You DEFINITELY are a teacher sweetie!"

Those of you that know me know that noone should ever mess with my best friend and wife, Evie. Someone once mentioned when they heard my wife was a third grade teacher, "Oh, easy job, 9 months out of the year, summers off, 8 - 4.... blah, blah, blah!" I looked at the "IDIOT" (don't call many people that very often) and replied with, "No actually my wife works 10 - 12 hour days, 13 months out of the year!" Of course the IDIOT wasn't smart enough to just walk away dragging his tail between his legs but responded with, "How can that be? There are only 12 months in a year!" [Ed. Note. Well duh! Sure glad he had a great third grade teacher who had taught him that fact!] I responded with, "I know there are only 12 months, but my wife works 13 months now shut up!" One of the few times I ever told someone to shut up, but the person wasn't a friend, I didn't want him for a friend and really never wanted to see him again! I walked away feeling kind of stupid for saying shut up but proud that I had stood up to Mr. Bully!

So what is the lesson in all this? Ask God to help you find your passion and calling and then work hard, become an expert and start dreaming your call! May you too have a good night's sleep! God will bless you!!!

Markus