​Volunteering

​"All God's servants are minute men and women. As of old, I stand with sandals on and staff in hand, waiting for the watchword and the revelation of what, how, whither. Let us be faithful and obedient, and God will do the rest." (Miscellaneous Writings 1883-1896, p. 158) Mary Baker Eddy inspires us beautifully to embrace consecration and readiness as a daily asset. There is something noble and dignified here, even something royal. In my imagination this readiness is like a bird who is prepared to fly any moment.

The way we approach daily life is the way we live our lives. When I prepared breakfast this morning, being interrupted a few times by people who needed my support, I found my way through this labyrinth of demands by remembering to be a volunteer under all circumstances. I also remembered a recent talk in which the speaker asked the audience to turn the cellphones back on (after the audience had been asked to turn the cellphones off before he entered the podium). His point being that our job is always to be available to others who need our help, our brother birds, everywhere. An unusual and a fresh way of looking at cellphones, from the Christian Science practitioner Rick Stewart, who was the speaker. Cellphones on! Not for entertainment or nonsense, but as a sign of availability and readiness.

"At every moment we are volunteers," wrote Stephen Colbert on a slip of paper, this quote being something like a motto of his. This volunteering becomes habitual, I find, as it is backed up by insights into our true being as worthy, spiritual, meaningful, interesting, and authentic. Discovering something about our status as divine ideas with a spiritual origin makes all the difference. There is good, God, as the beginning and end of it all. Being a volunteer reflects a link to good, at all times. It is a sign of authority.

The Bible - humanity's book, filled with stories and insights about how to get to know God and what impact "walking with God" might have - is filled with images. They translate beautifully into our experiences because they were already written for all time in the first place. And whatever the bridge to your own experience - something from 600 b.c., the 19th century or the 21st century: May it bring a sense of calm into your day, a sense of the dignity of life:

"Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and whowill go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me." (Isaiah 6: 8)