{"id":16829,"date":"2018-05-30T09:13:28","date_gmt":"2018-05-30T13:13:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/?p=16829"},"modified":"2018-05-30T09:43:26","modified_gmt":"2018-05-30T13:43:26","slug":"swallowed-by-a-whale","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/?p=16829","title":{"rendered":"Swallowed by a Whale"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/KVZu9A-dTfA\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"autoplay; encrypted-media\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Wednesday, May 30, 2018   from Richard Rohr<\/p>\n<p>The gift you carry for others is not an attempt to save the world but to fully belong to it. It\u2019s not possible to save the world by trying to save it. You need to find what is genuinely yours to offer the world before you can make it a better place. Discovering your unique gift to bring to your community is your greatest opportunity and challenge. The offering of that gift\u2014your true self\u2014is the most you can do to love and serve the world. And it is all the world needs. \u2014Bill Plotkin [1]<br \/>\nVocation does not come from willfulness. It comes from listening. . . . That insight is hidden in the word vocation itself, which is rooted in the Latin for \u201cvoice.\u201d Vocation does not mean a goal I pursue. It means a calling that I hear. . . . I must listen for the truths and values at the heart of my own identity. \u2014Parker Palmer [2]<br \/>\nI believe that the Book of Jonah can best be read as God moving someone from a mere sense of duty or career to a sense of personal call, vocation, or destiny. Notice that this vocation is almost thrust upon Jonah. It sometimes takes being \u201cswallowed by a whale\u201d and taken into a dark place of listening and discernment to let go of our small, separate self and its private agenda. Jonah had to be shoved out of the boat, or he would never reach Nineveh, the place to which God had called him. Eventually, we must allow ourselves to be drawn by our soul\u2019s desire rather than driven by ego needs.<br \/>\nThe motivating energies of ego and soul are very different. The soul\u2019s impulse comes quietly and generously from within; we do not look for payment, reward, or advancement because we have found our soul gift, our inherent gladness. To be an oblate\u2014someone who is offered\u2014is quite different from seeking security, status, or title.<br \/>\nListen, wait, and pray for your unique gift, your True Self. Meditation should lead to a clarity about what you are and, maybe even more importantly, what you are not. I have found it difficult over the years to tell people when something is not their gift; it is usually very humiliating for the person to face their own illusions and sense of entitlement. One sign that something is your vocation is that you would do it for free, even if there is no reward or social payoff. This clarifies a vocation quite quickly.<br \/>\nParker Palmer writes:<br \/>\nHow much dissolving and shaking of ego we must endure before we discover our deep identity\u2014the true self within every human being that is the seed of authentic vocation. . . .<\/p>\n<p>Today I understand vocation . . . not as a goal to be achieved but as a gift to be received. Discovering vocation does not mean scrambling toward some prize just beyond my reach but accepting the treasure of true self I already possess. Vocation does not come from a voice \u201cout there\u201d calling me to become something I am not. It comes from a voice \u201cin here\u201d calling me to be the person I was born to be, to fulfill the original selfhood given me at birth by God. [3]<\/p>\n<p>&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8211;<\/p>\n<p>TIME WITH ME<br \/>\ncannot be rushed. When you are in a hurry, your mind flitters back and forth between Me and the tasks ahead of you. Push back the demands pressing in on you; create a safe space around you, a haven in which you can rest with Me. I also desire this time of focused attention, and I use it to bless you, strengthening and equipping you for the day ahead. Thus, spending time with Me is a wise investment. Bring Me the sacrifice of your precious time. This creates sacred space around you\u2014space permeated with My Presence and My Peace.<\/p>\n<p>Let me understand the teaching of your precepts; then I will meditate on your wonders. \u2014PSALM 119:27 <\/p>\n<p>For the eyes of the LORD range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him. You have done a foolish thing, and from now on you will be at war. \u20142 CHRONICLES 16:9 <\/p>\n<p>Therefore by Him let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name. \u2014HEBREWS 13:15 NKJV<\/p>\n<p>Young, Sarah. Jesus Calling <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Wednesday, May 30, 2018 from Richard Rohr The gift you carry for others is not an attempt to save the world but to fully belong to it. It\u2019s not possible to save the world by trying to save it. You need to find what is genuinely yours to offer the world before you can make [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16829"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=16829"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16829\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16834,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16829\/revisions\/16834"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=16829"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=16829"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=16829"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}