Finding Your Whatever

I signed up to receive a short snippet of daily scripture every day.  My phone that's linked with my email account does its little jingle around 9 a.m. each morning when it comes into my inbox.  Normally I read it and reflect for a few minutes before I carry on reading other emails from groupon and other such things.  Today I was running some errands all day and didn't end up reading my daily scripture verse until after dinner. 

Today's came from Matthew 25:40, Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.”

I've heard this specific verse a million and two times before, however something different struck me today.  One specific word stuck out like a sore thumb that I had never noticed before......

“WHATEVER you did…”

WHATEVER.

The Scripture didn't say, "When you have sold everything you own and gave it all away to the poor…you did it for me.”

Nor does it say, “Once you have gone on four overseas mission trips and made a huge impact in the lives of hundreds of children in impoverished countries…then you finally did it for me.”

Neither did the scripture say, “Go out and bring food to a friend who needs comfort, and only then will it be for me.”

No this verse states WHATEVER.  Then I felt a feeling of understanding come over me.  My eyes were opened to the true meaning of this specific verse and teaching.  My WHATEVER may not be someone else's WHATEVER.  Each and every one of us have our own callings in this life.  What I may be called to do may not be what you, or what my siblings, or what my priest has been called to do.  Each and every one of us have our WHATEVER calling, it is our WHATEVER you do….No one calling is more important than another.  God burdens each one of our hearts and whispers (sometimes yells!) to us where He wants us to go or do.  We each have to open our hearts and eyes and dig deep to discover what our WHATEVER may be.  Some may indeed be called to save hundreds of children in impoverished countries, others to give up all their material belongings, but we may also be called to bring comfort to others while living in our suburban home.  Not all of us are called to be Mother Teresa, but we are all called to do our WHATEVER.  As we do our WHATEVER “You did it for Me!”  Every calling big or small are each important.  We live in a society where everything and everyone has to be bigger and better than the next.  It is the keeping up with the Jones' mentality that makes others not appreciate what we may feel are smaller things.  Those smaller things do not go unnoticed, they are just as important as the big world changing things.  He calls each of us to make our own impact some big or small, it is WHATEVER he puts on our hearts for "WHATEVER you did.....you did for ME!"

This specific verse spoke volumes to me today and really made me do an internal search into my own soul.  It caused me to reexamine my own life and what my callings in this life may be.  I have a heart filled with what I feel called to do and it is time I start living out those callings.  If we all found and lived out our WHATEVER callings, this world would be a much better place.

                                                 Remember today and the days to come

WHATEVER you did...

“You did it for Me!”