Vocare - To Call

This week I checked out three books which had similar words on the front covers.  I didn't notice the words until I got home from the library.  The first book was entitled Avocation of Compassion: The Mississippi Physician and Creative Writing.  The second book was entitled Out on the Porch: An Evocation in Words and Pictures, and the third book was entitled Heart in Conflict: Faulkner's Struggles with Vocation. 

Avocation, evocation, and vocation...maybe no one else on earth would have noticed those three words, but I did.  I haphazardly selected the books and paid no attention to the three words during the process.   I wholeheartedly believe that when something random becomes something connected, there is a lesson for me to learn. So I started with Webster.

Avocation refers to a casual or occasional occupation; diversion; hobby.  Avocation is derived from Latin ab - away and vocare - to call.  For some people, writing is an avocation ~ a hobby or diversion that calls them away.  I certainly understand writing as an avocation.  I have pretty much made a living doing something other than writing; however,  I would never consider the writing that calls me away as a casual occupation, but more a necessary diversion.  During the worst times in my life, writing has saved me.  Never made me alot of money, but kept me alive.  Writing seemed to call me away, and for the moment, that calling made all the difference.  My family and peers have always considered writing to be a hobby that I enjoyed, an avocation for sure; however, I have felt the call so deeply at times to write (even in my journal) that not writing seemed an unnatural response. The occasional, yes; the diversion, yes; but never the hobby.

Evocation is the act of evoking; to call or summon forth, as memories; to draw forth or produce a response or reaction; to summon up spirits by incantations.  Evocation is derived from Latin e -out and vocare - to call.  So...hmm...avocation is to call away and evocation is to call out.  Certainly, anyone who has written stories, recalled memories, or drawn from past experiences understands the importance of evocation.  We see a picture or hear a phrase or smell an aroma, and we call out those reminders of times passed.  Then, we usually tell a story.  We have all experienced evocation.  We drive by a house with a wood-burning fireplace or a charcoal grill, and we immediately react.  We summon forth our memories of various seasons, and spirits rise up within us.  Our inward incantations are calling out the best and worst of what we remember of our lives. 

According to the dictionary, vocation is a stated or regular occupation; a calling.  Vocation is a call to or fitness for a certain career; the work or profession for which one has a sense of special fitness or to which one is best suited.  Vocation is derived from the Latin vocare - to call.  Wow!  What a definition!  A stated occupation, a sense of special fitness, a calling to which we are best suited. 

When I was in the second grade, my teacher recognized a calling in me.  My hobby -- my avocation -- was telling stories.  The stories always produced a reaction from the students and a response (mostly negative) from Mrs. Gaddis.  According to her account, I would make the most unlikely stories seem believable.  I told those second graders that my daddy lacked one dollar having a million dollars, and that robbers broke into our house and stole our clothes (which they threw into our pond).  Even as a little girl, I possessed a special fitness to tell stories.

Later, as a fifth-grader, I wrote an article for the county newspaper as part of a school competition.  My article was chosen as the winner and was featured on the front page of the newspaper.  I never second-guessed what I was called to do from that moment forward.  In college, I majored in communications with a minor in journalism and spent most of my adult life writing or telling stories. I never knew as a fifth grader that I would write hundreds of front page articles for that same newspaper; but I knew I would write. 

Whether by avocation, evocation or vocation, I have always written stories for the sake of the call. Years ago, I had hoped to one day become a famous writer, live on the beach, deposit checks in the bank, and surround myself with a zoo of pets.  What I have learned from years of writing and telling stories is that the calling itself is always what matters most.

To call away, to call out, to call. To say in a loud voice, to proclaim, to shout!  To summon, to arouse, to awake from sleep. I think, at some point in time, the call comes to each of us; however, I believe that the call becomes the calling for a chosen few who answer.

Dianne : )