What Question is your Chariot?

I recently was asked to speak at a ladies event at our church on "How to Nourish Your Soul". Over the years, I've learned a few things about what my soul needs in order to flourish and so I was happy to pass along whatever insights I might have gleaned. The bigger thrill for me though was that this invitation came, I believe, as a result of my Daniel fast. If you've ever wondered whether fasts are "worthwhile" or not, I would encourage you to try it. I think the discipline of a fast is what it changes in our inner life and there won't necessarily be a big lightbulb moment, but there can be and that's pretty sweet.

I had shared this invitation at our weekly devotional at work and the next day, my boss brought me this book, which didn't really come in time for my talk but I'm about half-way through now and thoroughly enjoying it.


(And this isn't the first time I've come across the name Parker Palmer but the quotes included in this book make me want to check him out further.) Anyway, apparently one of the questions asked by early Wesleyan Christ-followers when they got together in small groups was "How is it with your soul?" How many of us even know what's going on in our souls, I wonder? And would we have the courage to even ask this (or want someone to ask us?)Hmm...

The issue of calling is addressed in this book and there's two quotes that I really liked that I want to tie in with the book my book club discussed last week. So, the quotes first:

"Vocation does not come from willfulness. It comes from listening. I must listen to my life and try to understand what it is truly about - quite apart from what I would like it to be about - or my life will never represent anything real in the world, no matter how earnest my intentions". Parker Palmer in Let your Life Speak.

"Calls are essentially questions. They aren't questions you necessarily need to answer outright, they are questions to which you need to respond, expose yourself, and kneel before. You don't want an answer you can put in a box and set on a shelf. You want a question that will become a chariot to carry you across the breadth of your life". Gregg Levoy in Callings.

So how does this kind of calling tie in with a story about a little Jewish boy, raised in a Ladover Hasidic home, who is compelled to draw and can't help himself, in spite of his (mostly) father's attempt to get him to stop this childish foolishness (as he sees it)?


My Name is Asher Lev by Chaim Potok, first published in 1972, is apparently enjoying a resurgence of sorts amongst book clubs and while it may be a slow start for some, it all comes together in the last 10 pages and makes it totally worthwhile. The book had been my suggestion so I was in charge of leading the discussion. My friend Jane has been blogging about the art aspects of the book which is compelling enough on its own, but my focus in on the parenting questions that are raised for me, particularly as it comes to calling.

If you had a child who had a definite calling in his life (whether it's art or sports or academics or however you want to define calling), how much would you sacrifice your own career/calling in order to cultivate your child's gift? Most of us don't have child prodigies so perhaps this is an irrelevant exercise, but the wrestling the father did with his son's gift, the balancing act of the mom straddling her husband's and son's worlds and trying to reconcile them may be more common than first glance would assume. But this family was also part of a community who had influence and authority to speak into their struggle and the family acquiesced to the solution. A rabbi sees the futility of trying to make Asher Lev into what his father envisions for him, and in spite of the dad's misgivings, the rabbi brings Asher under the influence of another great Jewish painter who is not Orthodox, in hopes of channeling Asher's gifts within the Jewish community. And so the stage is set for this coming-of-age story amidst the struggle of the secular and the sacred.

So the notion of calling has been coming at me from two totally different spheres the last while and I always find it intriguing to ponder this topic. Is it only reserved for those who have a very defined and narrow focus which takes all their attention or have many of us missed the chariot that is meant to carry us across the breadth of our lives because we just haven't paid attention to the questions lurking below the surface?