Tuesday, December 6, 2011

More on women and vocation, and Mary and Martha

Just after I posted my last blog entry, my mom came over, and so I talked to her about what I'd been writing. And now I have more vocation-and-women stuff to put out there in the Pool of Ponder.

(That last blog entry was - and this might not have been obvious, but it's true - just an I'm-pondering-these-things entry. Not an I-have-this-all-figured-out entry.)

One important thing my mom pointed out is that we shouldn't look at the first Mary-and-Martha story in the gospels without also looking at the second: the death of Lazarus. In that case, Mary was overwhelmed with her emotions and missed Jesus. But Martha was there, and present, and confessed that Jesus was the Messiah. So . . . Martha got the better part in the end too, and it's worth thinking about how much her sensible, practical nature helped her to be present and aware in the midst of tragedy - present and aware enough to recognize Life Himself when he stood before her.

I guess what really struck me about the Mary-and-Martha story as Sayers presents it is that being a contemplative is a legitimate calling, even for a woman. (And yes, I know who the other Mary is, and so this should have been obvious to me.) I feel like so much of what I want to do is just to read and think and read and think and read some more. And Mary's story shows me that sometimes sitting and listening isn't lazy; sometimes sitting and listening is exactly the right thing to do. It's not sloth; it's something we are made for.


The other thing my mom helped me with was with a clearer explanation of the traditional Christian view of "vocation". (My mom's a theology prof, so she knows this stuff - that said, anything I get wrong in this recounting is my mistake, not hers - and some of it isn't her information, it's just my ruminations.) She talked about how vocation means "calling" and that it includes everything that God calls us to, which means that my division of calling into "vocation" and "duty" isn't correct.

There are the things we are all called to, like wisdom. Or like obedience to Christ. Then there are the very common callings that are ours because of where we are when we become Christians. Are you a mother, a brother, a husband? You are called to be that in service to God. Are you a soldier, a teacher, a welder? You are called to be that in service to God.

Then there are the more specific gifts and callings, and some people have lots and some have a few, but whatever they are, you are to use them in God's service, as He leads you to do so.

And then there is the question of time. You aren't called to do everything all the time. For instance, when my twins were newborn, and I had four children under the age of four, my whole duty was pretty much comprised in loving God and my immediate family. It was all I could do to just do that! and I don't think I was called to anything else at that specific time.

I think there are times like that in most people's lives. When you have a newborn, when you are gravely ill, when someone who it's your duty to care for is gravely ill . . . your duty narrows to one very specific point and you just serve Christ there, wherever there is. You're still following the first and second greatest commandments, and so even though the scope of duty is narrow, the obedience and love found there can be as great as any in the whole wide world.

There's also the fact, my mom pointed out, that sometimes the hard and narrow parts of our lives are the times when God is equipping us for some future work, but we can only see it in hindsight. We look back at those times and see, "oh, that's when I learned to pray" or "that's when my heart was truly converted" or whatever other thing it was that God needed to do in us in order to fit us for our true calling, to get us ready for whatever tasks were lying ahead.

And in the end, our calling is a calling to Him, it's a calling to our home. He Himself is our peace, as Dante said, and He wants to make us into people who can be at home with Him. In Advent, that's good to remember too. In the words of the children's carol, we pray, Lord Jesus, fit us for heaven, to live with Thee there.

Peace of Christ to you,
Jessica Snell



4 comments:

Emily (Laundry and Lullabies) said...

I've been thinking lately about how to know where your duty/vocation lies (and how many duties you really have at any given time.) Realized today that between us Gabe and I have FIVE different ministries at church (and I just said "no" to a sixth!) And perhaps that is contributing to both of us feeling utterly overwhelmed most of the time. Yet each of those ministries seemed to match a gift and be a kind of calling for us, so...??? It is hard to know.

Jessi Martin said...

Wow. I just found your blog while hitting the "Next blog" button over and over again, but I am so glad that I did. I am really enjoying your blog but this post especially hit home for me. I have been feeling so run down from a job that barely pays and then coming home to my teething 9 month old son, but I haven't brought myself to quit for fear of my family thinking of me as lazy. I really do need to focus on the calling God gave me to be a mother. Thank you for sharing this post, it is beyond encouraging for me.

Jessica Snell said...

Emily, I think that if you're feeling utterly overwhelmed all the time, you're doing too much. Which is the very best fit? Which might other people fill just as well and which are ones that *you* fill particularly well? I think you can "triage" on church stuff as well as home stuff.

I just keep thinking about Dallas Willard saying that God will not give us too much to do and if we have too much to do, than we are doing something He hasn't asked us to do.

I mean, you have to be careful applying that, and take it in context (with Willard, the context is absolute devotion to God), but I think there's some very precious truth in there.

Or, as Sanders told me once: "God always gives what He demands."

Jessica Snell said...

Jessi, I'm so glad you found it when you needed some encouragement. I think God is good at helping us stumble across the words we need to hear - and I'm grateful I got to be part of that process this time!

I know I just mentioned Dallas Willard in the comment above, but if you're facing a decision that needs some discernment, may I recommend his book "Hearing God"? It's helped me so much in learning how to pray through decisions and what Prof. Willard has to say is going to be better than anything I can offer - he's a very godly and intelligent man!