A Special Call

 
Ring. Ring.
"Hey, Friend, It's for you. God's calling."
Are you answering?

What in nature calls you to God? Is it the sea?

 Oswald Chambers in his classic devotional, My Utmost for his Highest (Discovery House Publishers, 1935), writes:  "The call of God is like the call of the sea, no one hears it but the one who has the nature of the sea in him....His call is to be in comradeship with Himself for His own purposes,..."

California Coastline

Is it the mountains?

 Fall in the Sierra Nevada Mountains                      (photo courtesy Dan Raatjes)

Perhaps it's canyons or a serene snowy woods or a ladybug sitting on a bright green leaf. What about a magnificent spider web glistening in the sun or thundering water falls?

For me, it's trees--their trunks, bark, branches, and especially their leaves. Years ago my thoughtful sister mailed me 30 colorful fall leaves from the woods of my childhood home in Ohio. They are very special to me. I laminated them and bring them out every year at the start of Fall. This year some are taped to the bathroom mirror, and some are scattered on a table top. They give me the warm fuzzies because I grew up amid a forest of shaggy bark hickory trees. (I almost hyperventilated when I first saw the California redwoods.)

What Speaks to You?

Pinpoint what in nature speaks to your soul, helps you breathe a little more deeply and smile. What makes your shoulders relax and keeps you from checking your phone for messages? When you identify "your thing," that's God calling you.

The Apostle Paul writes to the believers in Rome that no one, not even someone who never has read a Bible, has an excuse not to know God. Why? "...because the whole created world reveals him." (Study notes to Romans 1: 20, NIV)

The verse reads like this:  "For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities--his eternal power and divine nature--have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse." (Romans 1: 20) Then Paul goes on to excoriate people who choose to live in godlessness and wickedness.

Just as the sea, mountains, snow, etc. call us to believe in God, he calls us to a relationship with him. He didn't create the world and then send us spinning off into the universe to survive on our own. He desires fellowship with us. When we worship him or spend time with him, he delights in it. I have to believe he smiles. I know he sings:

"The Lord your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing." (Zephaniah 3: 17)

Call to Action:  find a beautiful photo of a favorite scene in God's creation that pulls on you. Put it in a prominent place if it's a hard copy or display it digitally as a background on your desktop or phone. Let it be a reminder God is pulling you toward himself and he delights in your company.

God's calling. Are you answering?

Red-Eyed Leaf Frog of Costa Rica (rana ojos rojos)