The Faith Page - October
The Call
Recently I received one of those calls from a friend, “Can you help me tomorrow with a retreat for the senior class at SVA? My ice breaker guy just cancelled on me.” You can only guess what my first thought was: “NO!!”
I am not an “ice breaker” guy. I love watching ice breakers involving teens but I have never felt confident in leading them. Throw in the fact that we are talking about 65 to 70 high school girls. Just the thought is overwhelming. “NO, Sorry I won’t be able to do that!” I hung up the phone and immediately began to wonder what I would have done with those young women that would engage them and lead them to have a successful retreat. I couldn’t think of one thing. I made the right choice…right?
The next morning I woke up and my first thought was the senior retreat. I offered a prayer for its success, but my conscience kept nagging me. How often do I tell my CCD class or my own children that they must LISTEN to their conscience? When the Holy Spirit is leading us we have to be able to figure out what He is saying and open ourselves up to do His will. I picked up the phone and told my friend, “I’ll be there.” I felt like a weight had been lifted from my shoulders. I knew I had made the right decision. Now comes the hard part: explaining to my wife that “we”, I volunteered her too, were going to help out. We had two hours to come up with an ice breaker, get all of the children to school and drive out to Camp Villa Marie.
When the retreat was over, I pulled out of Camp Villa Marie energized in a big way. In one hour those young girls laughed, ran, danced and sang. They responded to everything we asked. Our job was done and a huge lesson was learned. I almost missed a calling. I almost lost out on the joy of serving.
This year at SPA we have a goal to “serve together”. I love hearing of all the wonderful ways in which people are using their God-given talents in service to our school, children and community. Two key ingredients of stewardship are time and talent. Sometimes it is harder to give of our time and talents than it is to give God our treasure. Sometimes we have to step out of our comfort zone in order to serve. Is your heart pulling you toward a certain area of service but your mind and mouth are saying, “No”? Think about it. After the retreat, my friend called to thank us, but I honestly felt that she deserved our thanks. Our time, talent and treasure are all gifts from God that we then return to Him by sharing them with the others. For me, serving resulted in a personal treasure. I encourage and challenge you to listen to your conscience and try your best to do what the Holy Spirit is asking of you. - John Ebberwein
