Episcopal Church Foundation Vestry Papers - for leading congregations

What if your calling isn’t something you chase, but something that’s been subtly seeking you all along?

When I reached out to Sister Hannah, an Episcopal nun with the Sisters of St. Mary in Sewanee, Tennessee, she described her spiritual vocation this way: “Instead of a moment, it was more like a very slow and gradual awareness of my call.”

Her words invite us to lean in and trust in the slow work of God.

The Early Seeds We Don’t Recognize at First

When she was young, she loved watching The Sound of Music and Sister Act. In hindsight, her calling seemed clear, yet it once felt unattainable. Growing up Southern Baptist, becoming a nun never seemed like a possibility for her.

So, she followed another path, one shaped by science, curiosity, and a desire to help people heal. In high school, she became fascinated by nutrition, reading labels, and studying how ingredients affected the body. Her grandmother’s nursing career inspired her, and her mother hoped she might become a nurse. She felt drawn to care for others, so she became a hospital dietician, eventually working in Greensboro, North Carolina.

She loved the diversity of her work: ICU, surgical, oncology. Yet something in her longed to go deeper. She cared for both bodies and souls.

A Slow Turning Toward Home

With the encouragement of a hospital chaplain, she found her way into the Episcopal Church. There she discovered something she hadn’t known existed: Episcopal nuns. (Yes, Sisters are not only Roman Catholic.)

A simple Google search of “Episcopal convents near me” led her to the Sisters of St. Mary. And as she says, “The rest is history.”

My initial interview question assumed her vocation had arrived in a single, manifested moment. But her story reminded me that many callings come the way dawn does, slowly, quietly, almost imperceptibly at first.

No thunderclap. No dramatic revelation. Just a faithful unfolding.

Nothing Is Wasted

When she entered the convent, she assumed her medical nutrition training would be “put on a shelf.” Instead, it became part of her ministry.

She told me:

“Even though becoming a nun was a dramatic shift in my life, the skills and talents I had have proven useful in my ministry.”

She used her expertise to support a Sister with dementia, ensuring she received the right food textures and supplements. She co‑led a presentation on flavoring foods without relying on salt. She taught about aging gracefully by hydration, protein needs, changes in taste and appetite. She even led a retreat linking physical and spiritual nourishment.

Then she said something that stayed with me:

“What I ‘gave up,’ God has returned to me many times over.”

Her story reveals a truth many of us need to hear: Your calling does not have to be dramatic to be holy.

There are times when it means pursuing what has consistently inspired you. Other times, it’s an irresistible curiosity that keeps tugging at your mind. Often, it simply involves moving forward with trust, even when the entire journey remains unclear.

Nothing is wasted. Nothing is lost. Everything belongs.

If Your Calling Feels Slow or Unclear

You’re not behind. You’re not missing it. You may simply be in the middle of the unfolding.

A Gentle Invitation for Your Own Discernment

• Where in your life is something slowly dawning?
• What small joys or persistent longings might be whispering you toward your next “yes”?
• What skills or experiences—past or present—might God be weaving into a future you cannot yet see?
• Where might your calling be arriving like the quiet light of morning?

Vocation is not always a moment. Sometimes, it is a becoming.