Some people serve God loudly. I don’t mean obnoxiously, I mean publicly, in front of people. I guess I’m one of those. Almost everything God has called me to do includes me leading, or being in front of people. It’s not a bad thing to serve loudly, just different.

I just celebrated the life of a friend of mine who’s calling was opposite of mine. She served God, her family and her friends quietly. Pat was not a loud personality, but the way she served God and others spoke volumes. As I donned my most Hawaiian outfit and flip flops (at her request) and headed out for her memorial, I remembered watching her at church when I would lead worship. I would watch her light up as worship started and you could tell it was her happy place. Well not much changed as she reached the end of her life. I would bring my guitar over and sing with her…then towards the end when she was too weak to even keep her eyes open for long, I would sing to her as she rested. After each song when I stopped playing, she would quickly open her eyes as if to say “keep going…don’t stop.” She had more music in her iTunes library than most people I know, and would always ask about new worship songs so she could download them.

Listening to her friends and family honor her today made me think…no matter how “loud” my ministry may be it also needs to be quiet. My main ministry is leading worship. While this is a very public thing, worship is also very private, very quiet. What I mean is, in the quietness of my heart, I should be living a life of worship and of service. I want to fade into the background, serve quietly, walk quietly and live quietly before I go out and fulfill my “loud” calling.

Pat taught me that we all have our own calling, some louder than others…but the volume doesn’t change the impact. So live loud or live quiet, but make sure you live, love, serve and honor God in all you do.

In memory of Pat Morse