All
members of my family of 5 are sleeping soundly, until the alarm by the
bedside of one of these family members sounds. The alarm persists,
unattended, the need for turning it off unmet and ever more persistent
until someone from another bedroom wakes, rises, and treks through the
darkness of a 2am house to turn it off.
As
I (yes, it was the mother) made my way back to bed, I was struck as to
how this little piece of my life relates to where I feel I am at
spiritually.
When a call to serve the LORD is put out, are you the one to answer that call?
In this instance with the bedside alarm, there were a few different people involved:
1. The person who did not hear the alarm’s call and did not awake to answer that call. That would be the youngest child, and the deepest sleeping one. She totally slept through it all.
2. The person who the alarm was specifically for, but did not awake to the call (or did, and ignored it). It
may be beside the point that my son inadvertently set the alarm for the
wee hours of the morning, but the fact remains that the alarm was for
him and he did not rise to the occasion to turn it off. He should have, but did not.
3.
The person who was sleeping in the same room as the the person for whom
the alarm was specifically for, and decided it was up to the alarm
setter to answer the call. Maybe
he heard it, maybe he didn’t. But knowing this child, he would totally
decide it was up to the alarm setter to turn off the alarm: ain’t no way
he was going to turn it off when he could set his mind to ignore it.
4. The person who heard the alarm, tried to ignore it but couldn’t, and finally got up to turn the alarm off. This
was me, the mom. I’m sure some of you can relate. When something
needs doing and is persistent and effecting me(sometimes I claim these things are yelling at me), it is actually painful
to have it continue unaddressed. Sometimes it is just easier to do it
myself rather than ignore it further (because I just can’t) or to get
someone else to do it. And let’s face it, even I don’t always know the
right person to ask or have the most effective method of persuasion in
these matters! I’m also not sure I want to persuade the wrong person to
do the task: that’s the LORD’s business.
5.
The person who never heard the alarm, but heard about it from person #4
and didn’t rise to turn it off because it wasn’t bothering them. This would be my husband, who truly did not hear the alarm, even when I alerted him to it. He did not hear it, it did not effect him, so he did not respond to the call.
Whether we are discussing the bedside alarm of a child, or a call to serve the LORD in some way, which person are you?
Are
you not answering the call because it is not for you and you don’t hear
it? Are you not answering because you are ignoring it, even though you
know it is for you? Do you assume the call is for someone else and not
you, so you then find ways to ignore it? Do you hear the call, know it
is not for you, but can’t stand that the need to answer it is not being
met, so you do it anyway? Or have you heard about the need, but ignore
it because you truly cannot hear it and so it does not bother you? Or perhaps you hear the alarm, realize it's for you, and happily respond accordingly.
This
2am experience left me wide awake and pondering where I am at and what I
am doing in my life. Am I in the center of the LORD’s will in all that
I am doing? Am I doing too much in some areas, and am I doing too
little in other areas? Are there areas in my life that I need
to, rather than begrudgingly “answering the call” that is not truly for
me, gently let others know the alarm is sounding (or simply let it sound and pray others hear it) so that they can be
made aware of it and possibly rise to the occasion?
Where
are you in your Christian walk? Which person are you? What do you feel
Christ calling you to do in your life? What do you feel Him calling you
not to do? Examine yourself and respond to the LORD’s calling in your
life. He will not let you down!
