#callings

[mormonmew]

So I'd been dreading being extended a new calling in my ward after being released from Activity Days. Like y'all, Activity Days was exhausting, even with my husband as co-leader at the time. So many callings are dealing with people and are kinda stressful (hello introvert here), and I already told the bishop 'no' to being a Sunday School teacher.

But my one Mormon Mom Friend (that's also the Primary President) asked if I'd be up for being the Primary Pianist or at least would be okay with giving the bishop my name for the calling.

I'd told her I'd think about it, and y'know? I can play piano. I have a piano that I can practice on at home. I can borrow my mom's copy of the Primary songbook.

Maybe this is one calling I can do without dreading it.

#mew rambles #lds #mormon #callings #queerstake #music #latter day saints #the church of jesus christ of latter day saints

[patron-saint-of-lesbeans]

Can you tell us more about your calling?

The plight of the people of Palestine has captured my heart and soul so completely I’m considering departing from my 6+ years of academia to more seriously investigate how I can aid them.

Unfortunately my calling is pretty vague so far, but I’m trying to remain open to where specifically I’ll be called and what I’m specifically called to do. I can tell you a bit more about why I’m convinced it’s my calling, as someone who has never felt a particular calling before. I assumed I should follow my talents, stay in academia, study a subject (forest pathology) I was passionate about and enjoyed for the benefit of all. But it was never a ‘calling’ in the sense that I felt I belonged, that I was where I was supposed to be doing what I was made to do. It was familiar and comfortable - mundane routine, just the way I like it.

I’m not sure exactly what triggered it, but about a month ago I called my mother late at night sobbing and begging her to pray a Chaplet of Divine Mercy for the people of Palestine. I was so overcome with grief, which I thought I’ve long since gotten used to with as many family funerals I’ve gone to in my life. I felt like I was losing my mind. I attributed it to having finished writing a big paper and talking at an important conference for my field, the stress-come-down of having something checked off my list of academic accomplishments.

Except a week later that grief and love was still burning in my heart. It’s difficult to describe outside of ‘burning.’ I know the physical effects of heartburn, stress, panic and anxiety attacks - I’m an anxious person and I know fear well. This wasn’t fear. Fear is something I run from, seek shelter from in God or in secular comforts. With this I feel safe - a bizarre security for someone who’s spent the better part of their life with clinical anxiety. It doesn’t have the pulse and tide of stress or the consuming wave of panic. It’s a steady grace I’ve been calling my conviction.

Which, again, I’ve never quite felt conviction this way before - I’ve been following the flow of life, swept up in a tide of secular expectations and responsibilities. It feels like I’ve found my footing on a sandbar while the tide of life moves around me, like I’ve stepped out of a dark room and into the sunlight. I feel alive for the first time, breathing air for the first time.

I’m a cradle Catholic. I’ve gone my whole life hearing about how we’re ‘born again in Christ’ and how the Holy Spirit ‘sets our hearts on fire with divine love.’ I think I get it now, because if this isn’t what a calling feels like or the grace of God, I don’t know what is.

And of course, as a cradle Catholic, I’m still chasing the ‘is this what God wants or is this just what I want and I’m trying to justify it to God?’ And while I doubt I’ll ever be 100% certain this is exactly what God wants of me, I know I certainly don’t want to radically change my life. I know that I have no reason to personally have investment in the people of Palestine.

I’m autistic, I’m physically disabled, I’m trans and gay - there’s a dozen social justice or political movements I could be swept up, that I would have personal reason to find benefits in. And it’s not that these aspects of myself aren’t important to me, or that I never advocate for myself or these communities I’m a part of. I just figure, if I was doing something out of self interest, it wouldn’t be something so far away and so different from myself and those I care about.

I hate change, I hate the fear that comes with it, but I think about my future, whatever it might hold in regard to this calling I can’t ignore, and I’m not scared. I hate confrontation, I hate to rock the boat or make people uncomfortable - the number of times I’ve laughed along with a family member’s bigotry to avoid upsetting them is too many. But for this conviction, this pull to something I have no reason to personally care about, I’m willing to change for that.

I don’t want to act on this, which is as damning as it gets as proof that this is what I’m supposed to do. I know in my heart I will act on this conviction, because if I don’t, I can’t imagine living the life I’ve been living. There is no safety net I can fall back on - it’s this or a miserable life knowing I’m not where I’m meant to be. This is what I’m here for, and I can choose to ignore that, but I’ll never feel alive the way I feel now, acknowledging that it is real and it is true.

And of course, this has only come up within the last month of my life. I’m not impulsive enough to drop everything and find a plane, and I don’t think I’m supposed to. I haven’t consumed and digested and discerned thousands of years of history of a land so distant from my own home in a single month. This is something that will take time to discern the specifics of, to network and organize and learn. I wrap up a chapter of my academic career this spring, and I don’t know what I’m going to do after. I don’t think I can continue in this career, as uncomfortable as it will be to break the news to my labmates and coworkers and advisor. But I’m trying to stay open to whatever comes my way - if God has shown this calling to me, I will be shown the path I’m supposed to take so long as I keep looking.

And that’s about what I’ve got on my calling. I wish it was more specific (I’m autistic - Christ knows I don’t take vague instructions well!) but for the first time in my life I have direction, so I will follow it where it leads me. If you’ve read my personal ramblings this far, God bless! His grace be with you.

#catholic #tower of babble #vocations #callings #anon #anonymous #answered asks #it boils down to: I have no reason to be personally drawn to this and to be quite honest I’d really rather not be involved #in anything as horrific and as politically contentious. but unfortunately it feels like I’m going to spontaneously combust #if I try to ignore this feeling and this spiritual satisfaction I find in this calling.

[houndofchivalry]

pinnable post for this blog:

hi, I'm Cinnamon, they/them, genderqueer & nonbinary & butch. I'm 31 years old and a practicing witch for almost ten years now. my main is @thepaladog

I'm clergy & priestex for my temple, which in my tradition means I'm sort of a spiritual counselor for people exploring a pagan path. I'm also a big bad wolf, which is to say, otherkin to red wolves specifically; I'll often call myself a 'werewolf' due to this, and posts connected to this are tagged #woof. I'm also fond of knights and the concept of (non-gendered) chivalry, hence the blog title. you may see me tag things in that vein as #callings; these are ideals that I am strongly aligned with, things that I'm trying my best to be!

I could sit on a porch and talk for days about religion and spirituality but for the sake of a bio: I believe spirituality is fluid and highly personal, with overarching higher concepts that have connected us in an animistic way for as long as humanity's records go back. closed practices are closed practices and should be respected every time. indigenous people's voices should be heard and valued at every (neo-)pagan table. we do ourselves good by living closer to the natural world around us, by being aware of our status as good neighbors to everyone we can be.

my genealogy is mostly Germanic peoples, though my family has lived in the foothills of the Appalachias for about four-hundred years, so "Appalachian" is what I consider myself to be in a regional cultural sense. as is common in that folkloric practice, I have found the most comfort in following nature (in its many aspects) as divine and most of my ritual practice is aligned with what you might call 'granny craft'. on this blog, you will see my tags for these concepts that I hold holy to my own devotion and practice. these are sort of abstract and ever-expanding. some of them are like divinity to me, while others are more like friends and mentors. these may change but right now they are: #the bear - life well-lived, wild nature, the nurturer & the protector, leadership, responsibility, neutral forces of balance, the importance of eating berries barefoot by the river with people you love, harshness & tenderness both being a part of being alive #black dog - death & grief, growth through loss, liminal spaces, the art of witchery, the silence of a 3am parking lot and the sound of a 3am forest, every crossroad both literal and metaphorical #hop - the rabbit; patience, awareness, action, caution, daring. #yip - the red fox; sunlight, daytime, warmth, laughter, play, growth. #screech - the gray fox; moonlight, nighttime, cold, reality, mischief, decay. #frog - the element of water; emotions, memory, reflection. #salamander - the element of fire; passion, control, desire. #gnome / oak - the element of earth; balance, stability, homeland. #sylph - the element of air; creativity, expression, whimsy. welcome, feel free to ask me questions, I don't post my own content very often but who knows, maybe one day I'll change that!

#woof #the bear #black dog #sylph #yip #frog #screech #callings #hop #the oak #salamander

[windvexer]

On the topic of being contacted by deities/spirits: Have you ever been rejected by one?

Had a dream about a goddess I was interested in working with. Not a good dream and it felt like she was telling me to fuck off. Haven't heard anyone else talk about this kinda thing. It's kinda funny lmao

Yes, I recently had a dream like this about Odin :)

#answered #deities #communication #callings

[captainjonnitkessler]

Sometimes I wish we would start calling out the performative radicalism on this site for the poser bullshit it is. "Remember, it's always morally correct to kill a cop!" "Don't forget to firebomb your local government office!" "Wow, it sure would be a shame if these instructions on how to make a molotov cocktail got spread around!"

Okay. But you're not killing cops or firebombing government offices. You are posting on a dying microblogging website to a carefully-curated echo chamber that has radicalized itself into thinking that taking the absolute most extreme position on any subject is praxis but that anyone discussing the most practical way to effect actual change is your sworn enemy. You do not have the street cred OR the activist cred to be talking about killing cops, babe.

#thinking about the person i saw saying that if you're at a protest #and other protesters try to stop you from becoming violent you should just kill them bc 'peace police are still police' #even taken as hyperbole that's simply dumb as shit on every conceivable level #it's also pretty blatantly hypocritical coming from people who are usually self-avowed prison/death penalty abolitionists #like i'm sorry but you don't get to be a death penalty abolitionist and also call for the death of your political enemies online #this isn't a major issue or anything i'm just bored and annoyed

[luthienne]

i wake up thirsty and i think of palestine. i go to the doctor’s office and i think of palestine. a sign in the corner of the waiting room says ‘this is a place of healing, disruptive behavior will not be tolerated’ and i think of palestine. they probably weren’t thinking of bombs and snipers and mass graves in parking lots. i call my parents and i think of palestine. i drive to the grocery store and i think of palestine. i look at the clear blue sky and i think of palestine. i put the dishes away and i think of palestine. i feed my cat and i think of palestine. i listen to music and i think of palestine. i read poetry and i think of palestine. i text my friends and i think of palestine. i think of palestine and i think of palestine and i think of palestine

#i check the news and there are more olive trees burning i call my reps and my reps don’t answer i am losing my mind #palestine

[spitblaze]

do *you* think with your dick?

I think with my packer

#(yes) #(i have actually gotten into the habit of calling my bottom growth a dick/tdick) #(feels validating. especially bc i dont have the money for phallo) #spitblaze says things #ftm #doin numbers

[dirtytransmasc]

the men and boys are innocent too.

we cry "the innocent women and children" to appeal to the masses, to try and force their sympathy, but the men and boys are innocent too.

I have seen sons crying out for their mothers, their fathers, their siblings. I have seen them break down at the loss of their families. I have seen them cling to their dead and grieve.

I have seen fathers cradle their dead children, seen them kiss their faces and hold their little hands. I have seen them faint with grief when asked to identify the dead. I have seen them carry their sons and daughters. I have seen them fasting to provide what little they can for their families.

I have seen men and boys digging through the rubble with just their bare hands, I have seen them comforting strangers, playing with children, rocking them, hushing them, even if the face of such imminent danger. I have seen them cry, seen them grieve, seen them break down into each other's arms, seen them be selfless, beyond selfless, becoming something I don't have a word for.

I have seen the men who are doctors refuse to leave their patients, even when they have no medicine or supplies to give them, even when they're threatened with bombings. I have seen fathers who have lost all their children pick orphans up into their arms and proclaim them their child so they are not alone. I have seen men and boys digging pets out of the rubble.

the men are innocent too. the men and boys are being hurt and killed too. the men and boys are grieving too. the men and boys are scared too. the men and boys are fighting to save their people too. the men and boys deserve to be fought for too.

#I don't have words to describe how I feel for the men of Palestine #the things I have seen them do after everything they have been through goes so far beyond selfless #what do you call this? this prevailing goodness and willingness to give everything they have and more? what word even touches it? #I don't think there is one #islamophobia has conditioned us to see these men and boys as evil and dangerous #we see this in how we speak about Palestine #and we need to uncondition ourselves #they're just as innocent and of value and good as the women and children #so fight for them #they don't deserve this any more than the women and children #free palestine #palestine

[liquidstar]

Reblogs are off because you people don't realize that a post about gaslighting isn't the time or place for your LOL GONCHEROV XDDSS jokes idk what to tell you. If you find the info the other reblog added to be useful just screenshot it and repost it I'm done though

#thats like punching your friend in the arm when you see a punchbuggy and calling it lighthearted physical abuse 💀

[saulwexler]

how to explain to non-americans that the better call saul ads aren’t exaggerated for comedic effect they are super normie

#better call saul #[name rhyme] did someone hurt you? I’ll kill them. I’ll make them suffer. i’ll burn the world down until we are the last 2 in it #local lawyer tag

[noelledeltarune]

EVERY SINGLE DAY there are MILLIONS of characters in their late 20s who get falsely accused of being father figures to teenagers when in reality the description of "weird older cousin" or "step-sibling that moved out before you were born" is 1000000x more apt

#talk tag #IT KILLS ME. REIGEN IS NOT MOB'S DAD. HE HAS A DAD. INGO IS NOT AKARI'S DAD. PLEASE FOR THE LOVE OF GOD CAN ANYONE HEAR ME #(not even necessarily to say that ingo is in his late 20s but still) #(even if he was a 30-40-50 year old no matter how old he is no fucking teenager is gonna call some guy they met as a 15 year old ''dad'') #GAI IS NOT A FATHER FIGURE TO ROCK LEE HE WAS LIKE 13 WHEN HE WAS BORN! PLEASE!!!!!!!! #one time i saw that a ​person wrote a fic where mario was like a father figure to luigi. #they are TWIN BROTHERS. #not what this about but idk where else i can say anything about this. #just horrible #also sometimes someone is just An Older Friend like no familial relationship just a friend or acquaintance who is a lot older than you

[envelopandkissme]

this fucks

#i wish i could turn off the replies of this post now 😭 #men are so insecure #you’d think barbie herself called to kill all the kens #barbie movie #barbie #barbie review #1k #10k #20k #30k #40k #50k #60k #70k #80k

[jacqcrisis]

Put salt in your baked goods. Put salt in your desserts. Just do it. Please. Salt isn't just for savory, it's literally a flavor enhancer so even a pinch can take a meh recipe to one people can't stop eating. Listen to me. Your cookies and cheesecake bars are bland and uninteresting. I'm taking your hand. I'm guiding you with a gentle touch to the back. We can do this together. Trust me.

#baking #just do it just put THE SALT IN THE COOKIE DOUGH #inspired by the coworker who bragged her recipes dont need salt and brought the blandest cheesecake bars to the potluck #you need some salt i promise #just a little #just skooch #'the recipe doesnt call for salt' THEN ITS PROBABLY WRONG

[annabelle--cane]

her pronouns are HE/HIM

#I do actually think it's neat on both a character and representation level #that steven only ever objects to being called rose/pink and never says anything about pronouns. however I think this is a funny joke. #steven universe #id in alt text #marina marvels at life

[bpdshan]

the funniest thing that’s happened to me recently is that someone seemingly tried to update my pronouns on the medical system but accidentally made it so that my actual name is now “They Them”

#just waiting to be called Them in person tbh #actuallyborderline #mental health memes #lgbt #non binary #trans memes

[aceofstars16]

Reblog if you are okay with people giving you lots of boops!

#I just boop a lot in return for even one boop 😂 #april fool's day #boop war #what do we call it? #I don’t know lol #booping