Last weekend, Karla and I were privileged to have two wonderful guests in our home, Dr. Bill and Anne Frame.  The Frames are a retired presidential couple, having led Augsburg College in Minnesota for a decade.  Karla and I know them through another connection.

Bill and Anne were leaders of a program called, "Presidential Vocation and Institutional Mission."  Coordinated through the Council for Independent Colleges and funded by a grant from the Lily Foundation, the program brought together presidents and spouses from several colleges for times to reflect on each individual's - and each couple's - understanding of personal vocation as a president and how the personal understanding matched the stated - or unstated - mission of the institution they serve.

Bill and Anne also mentored us through regular phone conversations and discussion. They were a gift to our lives. Their time on campus reminded me they continue to be a gift to us. We talked and listened and shared for hours.

What drew Karla and me to Hiwassee was its mission, and our understanding of being called by God to a ministry of transforming lives through higher education in a value-centered Christian environment.  It was a fit - our sense of vocation and Hiwassee's mission.

Theologian Frederick Buechner says "the place God calls you is where your deep gladness and the world's deepest hunger meet."  This has been the case for us.
There is another part of the mix: following our call to make a difference each day.

Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote, "The days come and go like muffled and veiled figures sent from a distant friendly party, but they say nothing, and if we do use the gifts they bring, they carry them as silently away."

Days come to us every 24 hours, a gift from God. They are the landscape on which we can make our contribution, using our gifts and opportunities.  The day that is today will be gone when the clock strikes midnight.  If we chose to do nothing, the day goes away, silently, unmarked, not influenced by our gifts, our commitments, or our beliefs.

At the beginning of each day, it is good to pause to remember the opportunities before us and to resolve to make a positive contribution to our community and the world.  At the end of each day, it is important to pause to give thanks for the opportunities we have had to make a difference.