You’ve been waiting for days.
Phone not on silent. Waiting for that call.
And then just like that – you’ve missed it.
But you’d been listening really hard, thinking about it, ready for it, poised to answer. And now you don’t know when it will come again.
And it made me wonder about all those times when we had missed the call to do something kind.
In this busy world there are many calls on us to show kindness and compassion and there are many times when our first thought is ‘not today, I’m too busy’. And there are times when we are just not ready, just not thinking, just not quite with it. The person struggles with the door and before your brain has said to you ‘go and help them with the door’ they’ve managed it or someone else has stepped in to help.
And it feels like a missed call.
For God calls us to help our neighbours, love others and offer support selflessly knowing that any rewards we are due will come later.
But that missed call also shows that we are trying, we are ready and we are willing.
And it is a reminder that we are not perfect.
Or maybe you’ve had a missed call on your phone when the number is unknown or a number you don’t recognise and you wonder for a while who it was.
It’s a bit like Samuel as a child, sleeping in the Temple and hearing God’s call – Samuel, Samuel!
But because he was not expecting it, and it came in a way he was not expecting, he was in danger of missing the call on his life.
And so I wonder how many of us have forgotten to pray before stepping up or stepping out.
Maybe we’ve not been expecting a call or an invitation and it’s almost passed us by.
An invitation to learn something ourselves or to help someone else understand something tricky.
A call to live a new life or different life where we leave behind the things that have held us back.
But the great thing with God, the awesomeness of these calls, is that we will never lose out in the end if we miss them.
There is no missed out moment that God can’t replay at another point in our lives.
The calls God sends out are ones that will keep calling regardless of how with it or awake we are to them.
His calls are for us to live life to the full and to show care and kindness whenever we have the opportunity.
As Jesus, busy as He was, walked by, He stopped to pray.
As the disciples visited and found folks in need, the gave what they could which wasn’t very much.
But the giving and the praying and looking and the listening was all a call from God to live the life He calls us to live.
May you ever be ready for His call.
May you always be listening for His voice to do something great.
And May His blessing bring you life to the full in all that you do in His name. Amen