Monday, July 31, 2006

Moms, acting and vocation

Willa has an excellent post this morning about answering the call to one's vocation, and the connection to the ways in which we mother our children.

Willa says:

For some reason, this thought that vocation comes calling, so to speak, is a reassuring one to me. Weigel says that Karol Wojtyla, living in post-WWII Poland, did not choose to become a priest and devote his life to God. He had planned to become an actor/scholar. Rather, he felt strongly that the priesthood chose him, that he had received a call.


This touches on how I try to teach the idea of vocation to my children: that we have no idea what we'll be called to do. Oh, yes -- we have our interests, our ideas and goals, our ambitions and our predictions, but we still really don't know what God has in mind for us.

I didn't set out to become a Catholic, homeschooling mom. I originally majored in theater in college. (Not that I don't do plenty of acting as a mom ....) God has a funny way of sideswiping us, knocking us down with His plans and then helping us up. And, while we regain our balance and refocus our vision, we finally begin to see that His way, really, is oh-so-much better.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Great post Karen. I think by your description, I must be in the "knocking down" phase, lol.

Thank you for the reminder that God knows better, and his call is what is best.

Jennie C. said...

I hear all day, "I wanna be a ...." Fill in the blank. Mommy, teacher, taxi driver, walmart checker, doctor, nun, soldier, backhoe driver. I smile and nod and say, "We'll see. God has a plan for everyone and He'll let you know what it is when He's ready for you!" They find that comforting, actually. So do I.