Calling

As I collect what I need and pack my suitcase, I am pondering all the questions and comments from my friends and colleagues. “You retired last month. Don’t you want a break?” “You’re a homebody. You don’t like to travel.” “You hate flying.” “You don’t speak French.” “Couldn’t you have found some place closer?” “What will you do without McDonald’s Coca Cola?” All well-meaning and valid concerns except, perhaps, the last one. No, actually the last one is legitimate, too!

But as it says in Luke, “Much will be required of the person entrusted with much.” And having been an obstetrician for so many years, I have been entrusted with the wisdom and knowledge of my teachers, the new knowledge and enthusiasm of my younger colleagues, and especially the gift of experience from all the women and families for whom I have cared. It is time to go. It is time to serve. As it says in one of my favorite hymns, “I have heard You calling in the night.”