Charism is the Christian term for “gift” or “calling.” A person or group’s charism is their calling, such as a monk’s charism is a call to prayer and an ascetic lifestyle (restricted life.) Each of us has a charism. This is part of the Holy Spirit’s commissioning. Your charism is how you fit within the body of Christ, that is, the church. Your charism is closely aligned with your passion. Your charism is not necessarily your skill set. Therefore we can distinguish between Calling and Gifts: Calling is your Charism. Gifts are your skills, talents, and abilities.

And here is yet another aspect of one’s charism: age. What stage of life are you in right now? Let’s just divide age into three major stages: youth, middle age, and old age. Easy enough, right? Add this nuance: youth is learning and discovering; middle age is productivity, nurturing, and building; and old age is sagacity, wisdom, mentoring, self-emptying (kenosis, Philippians 2:5-11).

Here’s a visual for us. Let us compare our life journey to a farm, or to farmland. In youth our charism means we act like “farmhands.” We are hired by God and by the church to work. We don’t own anything. We simply apply our strength to the tasks assigned. We do youth ministry, we prepare Bible studies, we put together mission trips.

In middle age we move from farmhand to farmer. We are responsible for the land. We begin to understand our relationship to the farm, to the land, to the will of God upon the land. We come to realize that the land does not belong to us. Rather “the farm has a farmer” as Wendell Berry phrases it. The farm is a living thing. The farmer becomes servant to the farm to help it produce and stay viable and healthy. I suppose we could say the farmer comes to understand respect for the land’s soul and purpose.

In old age we become the soil. We become so in love with the land that we are the land, inseparable from the land as our home. As Brother Lawrence put it in Practicing the Presence ‘I no longer desire to go to heaven for heaven is all around me.’ At this stage we no longer “think to pray,” rather prayer is all around us. The world is a prayer, an offering up to God. Sometimes the world offers up a reeking stench toward God – the slaying of yet another group of students, war, money, power, slavery, abuse… yet these are all prayers, or rather laments, or even holocausts. Other times the world offered up fragrant incense toward heaven: art, music, forgiveness, rest, service, and self-sacrifice. The world grows out of us. Prayer rises up out of us like crops of wheat and corn swaying and humming together in unison as one voice of silent rustling prayer. No wonder the trees always lift their arms toward heaven!

What you these days? Farmhand? Farmer? or Soil?