The Call to Serve

I’ve always admired people who felt and heeded the call to serve. I deeply admire members of the military; those called to help the poor and oppressed; those called to heal others; those called to explore all the places.

But, until very recently, I never heard or felt the call to serve.

When I was in high school, I romanticized the idea of being in the military. The idea of serving my country felt honorable and noble. So, in my brief college experience, I had an even more brief stint in an Air Force ROTC program. After several months of drilling, classroom work, learning how to spit shine my shoes, and visiting an air base, I realized it wasn’t for me. I was scared of the physical aspects of it. And I was terrible (still am) at following orders.

In the fundy church I spent many years in, it was a common reminder that we are either called to be “Saints or Servants”. A “servant” is a minister. A “saint” was roughly the same thing as a “civilian”. In this case, it usually meant getting married (preferably to someone in the church), attending various church events, providing support to the ministers, raising some good kids with proper haircuts - and of course, having a good wage and career.

I tried all of that. But it never felt like a call to serve.

“I don't know what your destiny will be, but one thing I know: the only ones among you who will be really happy are those who have sought and found how to serve.”
― Albert Schweitzer