Speaking in Verse

 

Yesterday I heard a strange noise outside my front door and just like all those people who die first in horror movies, I decided (without even looking through the peephole) to swing open the door to see what was what.

There was a man standing there.

A large man.

Holding a Swiffer sweeper.

“I’m cleaning spiderwebs,” he said.

“Oh thank goodness,” I said, a wave of relief falling over me.

The spiders here in Ohio are insane.  They’re large and they don’t build the pretty, pearlescent with dew drops, spiderwebs you see hanging off cattails and other vegetation in Florida.

These spiders build fortresses.

There is one particular spider who is currently prepping my door for Halloween.  His spiderwebs are so thick, they look like the cotton you pull apart to create webs for Halloween decorations.  And this spider feels it necessary to build his web right across my door, so every morning, I open the door and a gust of wind blows the web into my face.

I have learned to step back and duck.

And so, I had never been so happy to see a man standing at my door with a duster.

And I am sure he had never seen someone so happy to see him because of said duster.

But I needed him.

And there he was.

A couple of weeks ago, I met with the rector of the church I’m feeling called to join.  We spoke for about an hour and she mentioned to me that every day she prays Luke 10:2 “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few.”  Meaning she was always looking for people who were willing to bring their talent and skills to the church.

Later that afternoon, after I had gotten home, I texted her saying, “You say Luke 10:2.  I say Isaiah 6:8.”

Isaiah 6:8.  I actually had a shirt made a month or so ago with just that on the front.

Isaiah 6:8.  God asked, “Whom shall I send?  And I said, ‘Here I am, send me.’”  That’s the Kendra Lacy translation. 

But the three most important words are these, “Here I am.”

Here I am.

Isaiah 6:8 is about answering the call.  And for me it’s about answering the call when maybe we don’t even know what it is we are being called to do.  All we know is that God has called us and we make ourselves available to Him for whatever it is He needs.

I’m sure the man sweeping away spiderwebs has another job title.  Probably Maintenance Man.  And I’m doubtful that on his list of duties, sweeping spiderwebs is listed. 

But every morning he shows up and he’s told what needs to be done that day.

And he does it.

Whatever it is, even if it’s sweeping spiderwebs.

“The spiderwebs come back almost as soon as I take them down,” he told me yesterday, “but it gives me something to do.”

Purpose.

We all search for purpose.

Reasons to get out of bed in the morning.

Most often that purpose is going to be work.  We all need money to live after all.  

What is God’s purpose for us, though?

If you want to know, start with a simple prayer.

And say to God simply, “Here I am.”