Counting and Calling

If each grain of sand on the sea shore were numbered and the sum labelled chosen of God, they would be numbers still, not names. Salvation comes by personal selection. God doesn't count us he calls us by name. Arithmetic is not his focus. Romans 9, The Msg

I read this the other night and it brought me a bit of peace and reassurance. I think the world we live in can really make us feel like numbers. I mean the job i am in for example. There are so many other people at the same level with the same skills competing for the same thing. At the end of the day you can easily become a number...one of the crowd.

I was chatting to Ding the other night about music and how musicians often seem to get so deep with the words they use. Even simple phrases, sung with the right soul can create such an atmosphere and stir up so many emotions in us. There music displays who they are and what they believe in their hearts about love and life. I am sure at some point they felt like a number and still do to a certain extent, but I reckon that its those songs that save them from that. Even if only a few people here them. Even if they don't get the deal they want...they can express who they are inside.

We all want to feel unique, individual and called. I know that when doctors are asked why they do what they do and why they are so driven, a lot of them say that they want to be able to do something for people that no one else can do. Not just run of the mill but needed.

The grains of sand on a beach are just numbers to me...I cant even start to think about seeing the value in each individual grain. The number of musicians, doctors, business men, teachers, hair dressers etc are also too numerous for me to appreciate each one but God does. He asks us to imitate him and build each other up.

Do you know someone trying to make it in their thing, trying to go from being a number to having a role and a calling?

I do

I have a friend who is starting to work for a children's charity, leaving a potential legal career to do something that she feels called for.

I have a boyfriend trying to establish a company that will serve people and equip people in a way that will make him fulfill his dream.

I have a friend who really wants to be an anaesthetist so she can literally save peoples lives.

I have a friend who longs to build prayer communities in Ireland and despite hardship has vision and motivation for this.

I have friends who want to travel, who want to go to Africa and teach or who want to stay at home and do peoples hair for a living to make people feel good about themselves.

The point is its not about how big your dream is. Its about rising up from the pile of numbers and coming into your own. You may always be a number to some people, most people probably but this is the gist of what God wants.

That we see ourselves as he does.

That we rely on those close to us to see us that way to. To believe in us, to fight for us, pray for us, support us.

Mel, a friend who sings. I love going to her gigs when I can. I love her soulful music and I also love how her "crew" are around her. Her friends who love her, who now know all the words and know her heart on a personal level. 

Support the people you love and help them to feel more called and less like a number.

I know I appreciate it.

I have to say a lot of the people I work with don't really get the whole church and christian thing. For the most part I understand why. Often we can be pretty critical and unsupportive old so and so's. Salvation comes by personal selection. It doesn't count.

I suppose to help God in that we need to stop counting the things we need in people before we accept them or find them interesting.

 People, including me are under a lot of pressure to become something in their own right....even in the church lets face it. But I like that God reminds us to chill...he dictates who we are and where we go. He likes to find the unique quality that we possess. 

Success is over rated but love and support is vital in order to feel like a somebody.