It’s May 1879. After observing a young artist for three years, renowned art critic John Ruskin makes her a staggering offer: if she will devote herself to art she could be ​“the greatest living painter and do things that would be immortal.” There’s just one condition. She must conclude her life of service and ​“give herself up to art.” 

In a new featured article this week, Mimi Dixon tells the remarkable story of Lilias Trotter, who after much prayer turned down Ruskin’s offer and chose to pursue a more hidden immortal glory, serving as a missionary to North Africa. 

I’ll be honest. Stories like this sandpaper my soul. I’m inspired yet defensive: Couldn’t she have served God by giving herself up to art? Wouldn’t that glorify God more than forty years of work in North Africa that in the end seemed so unproductive?

This is where a contemplative, prayer-filled life — our focus this month — becomes so vital. Because it’s human to look for a formula for following God, to want the equation to work out the same way each time. But God knows what we each need and what the world needs from our life, and we learn what that is through listening. To Lilias the whisper was, ​“go to North Africa.” To another it is, ​“stay and immerse yourself in art.” To all it is, ​“follow Me and learn to love as I love.”

Learning to listen,