Called to be You

By Debra DuPree Williams @DDuPreeWilliams

Have you seriously thought about your purpose in life? What you've been called to be or do? A few years ago, author Rick Warren came out with his highly successful book, The Purpose Driven Life. My husband and I loved the study of this book so much, we went through the class twice. Yes, it’s that good. Though it was published in 2002, it is still very much relevant today . . . perhaps even more so.

When hubby and I moved into our home here in western North Carolina last year, a spider spun her web on one of the windows overlooking the fairway behind our home. She was so good at her job of being a spider. It was obvious that she took pride in her web-making abilities. Of course, her main purpose was to ensnare prey for her and her babies. I have to believe she knew she had created something that no other creature could—this beautifully crafted work of art. When it became broken, she quickly began work on the necessary repairs. I took many photographs of her and her web design. 

Anticipation

In the meantime, winter came. Miss Spider went into hibernation (let me believe this, please), and hubby and I went to Florida for a few months to escape the cold and snow. It was with great anticipation that we returned to our North Carolina home, this time permanently. I so looked forward to Miss Spider being there in the Spring with her latest web.

Alas, she never came.

Hubby and I don’t spend a lot of time in our sun room in the dark of night. You can’t see out. Everything is sleeping. But this week we’ve been without all those things run by our internet and television provider, so last night we decided to sit in the sun room with a good book in hand. I looked up and saw movement. There, right in front of me, was Miss Spider, weaving away. I was thrilled. Hubby grabbed a flashlight while I snapped as good a photo as was possible with my aging iPhone and in the darkness.

Now, I know this isn’t the first Miss Spider, the one to whom I had become so attached. My new Miss Spider was younger and much smaller than the first. But there she was, weaving a lovely piece of art. 

Same Species-Different Ways

Two spiders of the same species, both called to the same purpose—create a web, capture food for you and your wee ones. Each carried out this task in her own way. My first spider spun in the daytime. This new, younger spider spins in the dark of night.

Recently, I sent a friend’s book to another friend who has family in the city in which the book takes place. The friend who read the book wrote an amazing, lyrical review of the book. (Author friend you know who you are and you will be thrilled with this review.) The reader sent me her review prior to posting it and I was blown away by her use of words to describe the author’s work. I suggested to the reader that perhaps she had a hidden desire to enter the writing world.

Reader declined, saying while she knows she has a way with words, she has no desire to write. 

It’s all about purpose. She doesn’t feel called to write. This reader friend is a phenomenal decorator and seamstress. And she quotes more lines from songs and movies than anyone I know. She takes great care of her parents who are in their mid to late eighties, but still living alone and going strong. With her husband, they travel to the city in which the book takes place to see their son perform (he's a gifted jazz drummer) and to visit with their daughter-in-love and granddaughter. In other words, she knows her purpose and she is fulfilling all those things. She’s living the life she is supposed to be living.

Called to Our Unique Purpose

Writing may be what I feel called to do, but my friend, though she is gifted with the ability to write beautiful sentences, doesn’t feel that call, that purpose for her life.

The Author of our lives calls each of us to a specific purpose. Have you found yours? If not, listen for that Still Small Voice. It may come in a remark from a friend, from a song lyric speaking directly to you, from a page in a book, from a certain scripture verse that speaks to your heart. Each of us is unique—we fulfill a specific purpose. I have many writer friends, but not one of us has written the same book.

I’ll ask again—Have you found your purpose? Share your calling with us.

Romans 8:28.

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