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We need to open our minds and hearts to recognize when life is calling us to act

Recently, a man went hiking in the mountains in Colorado, USA and, as it often happens, he got lost. When the man did not return in time to the place where his family was waiting for him, the family alerted the authorities to begin the search. But before going out to look for him, the rescue team decided to call the man on the phone.

In fact, rescuers called several times, but to no avail. For reasons unknown at that time, the man did not respond. Obviously, it could simply be that the man was in a place where there was no signal. Or maybe the phone's battery was dead. The family, however, sensed the worst.

Finally, the next day and with some difficulty typical of the mountainous terrain, the rescue team located the lost man, and, to everyone's astonishment and relief, they found him in excellent health. Furthermore, the phone was working perfectly: there signal was strong, and device's battery still had enough charge.

They then asked him why he had not responded to the numerous phone calls since, had he done so, it would have brought peace of mind to the family and the rescuers would not have spent hours and hours trying to locate him.

The man's response was immediate and direct: "Because I did not recognize your phone numbers." 

Lost in the mountains, unable to find his way back, the man could have received complete and immediate help if he had simply answered a call from rescuers and said "Hello!" However, he decided to ignore those calls, giving priority to his fears and ignorance, and even the fact of remaining lost, instead of simply accepting saving help.

Let's be honest: we do the exact same thing in our daily lives. Here we are, walking aimlessly through life and living senseless lives (that is, lives without direction and without meaning).

And then, when those around us (mostly family or friends, but not necessarily) realize that we are lost and decide to intervene to help us, when that message of help reaches us, we simply ignore it again and again. 

"I was very busy," we say. Or maybe "I don't know that person or that group, so I better not let them help me." Or, even worse, "I've already gotten used to this situation of being lost and I don't know how to live any other way."

In other words, life itself calls us, asks us to act, offers us a call and a vocation so that our life will have meaning and purpose, and we do not even open our mind, our heart, and our will at least to say, “Hello there!" because we are probably afraid of transforming ourselves. 

And, contrary to what happened to the man in Colorado who was rescued so everything ended well for him, when we refuse to listen to the call of life, things rarely end well. In fact, we have the problems that we have for not responding to life.

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