The High Calling Read online

  “It would have been different, wouldn’t it?” The two sat there for a time and finally Gregory got up and said, “Well, I’m going to get dressed. I can’t wear this ratty old robe all day.”

  Grace shook her head. “You’ve got two more robes practically new.”

  “Well, I like this one,” Gregory said firmly and left the room on that note.

  ****

  The sun was warm on her face as Kat stood beside Hercules, stroking his back. From time to time he lowered his head to pull mouthfuls of fresh grass and chew them slowly. She put her hand out, and he licked her palm. “You always did do that, Hercules.”

  The buzz of engines caught her attention, and she looked up. A flight of bombers was making its way northward across the sky, and she watched until it disappeared over the horizon. She leaned against the huge bulk of Hercules and prayed as she had been doing almost constantly. First her prayers had been frantic, demanding God’s attention, but that had changed. For the past two days she had continued to pray, but somehow in her spirit she knew God was with her in a special way. Even now her prayer was not an insistent begging for God to bring Parker back but rather a time of thanksgiving.

  One of the Scriptures she had long treasured was the verse in First Thessalonians that said simply, “In every thing give thanks.” It had taken her some time to puzzle that out. At one time she had struggled with the concept of how to give thanks for something that seemed to be all bad. But the Lord had gradually revealed to her that the verse did not say, “For every thing give thanks” but “In every thing give thanks.” And now she knew that was what she was doing. She was thanking God not only for His blessings but simply for who He was.

  She had learned to praise Him silently at times. At other times she would sing hymns under her breath or even aloud. Now she began to sing her favorite hymn, “When I Survey the Wondrous Cross.” She knew all of the verses and was singing “love so amazing, so divine” when she heard a voice calling her name.

  It was Parker!

  Turning, she saw him running toward her and with a glad cry she flew to greet him. He picked her up in his arms, swung her around, and then began showering her with kisses.

  He put her down and pulled away to look at her face. “Please don’t cry, my darling.”

  “Parker, I knew you were alive. I just knew it!”

  “It’s a miracle that I’m back here at all.”

  “Did you stop in the house and see your parents?”

  “Yes. I thought Father was going to pick me up and carry me around the room.” He laughed and shook his head. “They’re still shouting, I think, but Mum made me come out and tell you.”

  “Come along,” she said. “Let’s go back inside.”

  But Parker took her arm and turned her around. “You must know I love you. I’ve loved you since I first met you. I can’t lose you, Katherine.”

  She looked up and smiled. “You’re not going to lose me.” She pulled his head down and kissed him. “I found out something about myself over these past few days, Parker. Being with Paul and Heather and with your parents touched something deep in my heart. And I’ve been praying as I never have before.”

  “Praying for what?”

  “To know what to do. That’s always been a problem for me, hasn’t it? But this time I know. The Lord let me pray for a long time, but now I know what He wants me to do with my life.”

  “The high calling?”

  “Yes. I’ve been searching my heart and searching the Bible, and during this time, which has been so hard, Parker, one verse jumped up at me out of the Scripture. It’s in the forty-fifth chapter of Jeremiah, the last verse. It’s just one little phrase. It’s something that Jeremiah said to a man called Baruch.”

  “What did he say?”

  “He said, ‘Seeketh thou great things for thyself? Seek them not.’” She smiled tremulously. “And then it was all so simple, Parker! It was like God opened a window in my soul and poured light into me! I’d been looking all my life, it seemed, for some great high calling. I always thought it would be something big, something that would be in all the newspapers. But during these last days here with your family and seeking God, I know what my high calling is.”

  “And what is it, then?” Parker asked quietly.

  “The high calling is serving in whatever place God puts you in. Serving Him with all your heart no matter how small or insignificant the place may seem to you. And now I have a question for you.”

  “Ask me anything.”

  Kat smiled and put her arms around his neck. “Will you marry me, Parker?” She laughed aloud as she saw the shock in his eyes. “Because I know now that God wants me to be a wife and mother. There is no higher calling than that.”

  He put his arms around her and held her tight. Her cheek was pressed against his chest, and they stood there holding on to each other. Finally he whispered, “I’ve never stopped loving you deep in my heart.”

  They started walking toward the house. “When will we marry, then?” Parker asked.

  “Oh, we’ll have to wait long enough for it to be acceptable.”

  “We’ve wasted too much time. I want to marry you now.”

  “Well, you can’t. You’ll have to wait a little longer—but maybe not too long.”

  “Do you know what Father said to me when I was back at the house?”

  “No. What did he say?”

  “He slapped me on the shoulder and said, ‘Don’t be a dunce, Parker. Go down and propose to that woman at once.’”

  “And I beat you to it.”

  She took his arm and turned him around, her eyes dancing. “I’ll have to practice my English accent.”

  “No, you don’t have to practice anything, Katherine. You just stay exactly as you are.”

  And then she broke into a run.

  “Don’t run off and leave me!” he called as he caught up to her.

  “Don’t worry. I’ll never leave you—and you will never leave me.”

  As they ran they saw Parker’s parents waiting for them, and Parker cried out, “I did just as you said, Father!”

  As Kat was embraced by her in-laws-to-be, she knew with a deep and joyous certainty that she had at last found her high calling.

  GILBERT MORRIS spent ten years as a pastor before becoming Professor of English at Ouachita Baptist University in Arkansas and earning a Ph.D. at the University of Arkansas. A prolific writer, he has had over 25 scholarly articles and 200 poems published in various periodicals and over the past years has had more than 180 novels published. His family includes three grown children, and he and his wife live in Gulf Shores, Alabama.