I Am Not Afraid — I Was Born to Do This

04-23-2023Weekly Reflection ©LPi Colleen Jurkiewicz Dorman

Have you ever felt like you weren’t doing the work you should be doing? We have all had jobs that leave us feeling unfulfilled. Bored. Dreading the next day. We may even experience a sensation of unfamiliarity, of being unable to recognize ourselves.

Most of us have also been lucky enough to have a job that we love — a vocation, a calling that makes us look in the mirror and think, This. This is who I’m supposed to be. I recognize this person.

For me, that work is the work of marriage and motherhood. The hours are terrible, the pay is even worse, and my coworkers are frequently disappointed in me — but it doesn’t matter. When I look in the mirror every morning and see my tired, wrinkled face gazing back, choruses of “I said I don’t want the BLUE SHIRT, MOMMY, ugh!” and “Honey, I’ve got an early meeting, I’m so sorry but I have to run,” ringing in the background, I think to myself: I recognize this girl. She was born to do this.

Christ’s own disciples did not recognize him on the road to Emmaus. It wasn’t until he took the bread and broke it that their eyes were opened, and they realized they had known it all along — “Were not our hearts burning within us?”

In that moment, Christ was doing the very work he was born to do, making the sacrifice.

I don’t know what kind of vocation you are called to. I don’t know what kind of work reveals your true self. But I hope that whatever work you are doing, you can look in the mirror and feel your heart burning within you.

“He was made known to them in the breaking of bread.” — Luke 24:35