Die Hintergrundgeschichte zum Song: I wrote this song while I was listening to Fr Mike Schmitz's 'Bible in a Year' podcast (I am very behind!). It was when I was reminded of the Shema prayer and the story of Moses that I came up with the lyrics. There was also a video by Catholic Truth that I found so helpful for me and for the song. It was about the importance of praying by sitting in silence and opening myself up to God. The first line of the Shema prayer calls Israel to listen to God, which is the first vocation everyone is called to do: to be open to God and be in a good relationship with him. I also found the story of Moses insightful in showing different aspects of vocational discernment. The first verse deals with Moses' mother having to make a difficult but godly decision to save her son; the second verse deals with Moses' changes from boy to royal to outcast to shepherd to God's call for him - a quiet man - to be a leader; the final section is based on the Shema prayer, in which Moses tells Israel to listen to God. In these instances, Moses' mother, Moses, and Israel all learnt their calling by being open to God's will of desire. Their listening to God was both the way to their vocation and their vocation, as it is ours.

Lyrics: You’re there at the junction of a winding road; You know, there’ll be many more to come. Now, I’m no wise man - I never have been -, Sage sayings: I know too few. But, while you carry the in-between I can tell this story to you. When the fears of a creature drew the death of another A God-fearing woman protected someone. In riverside reeds, there she hid undercover; In the reeds of a basket, there she hid her own son. While families wept for the terrors that day, She wept for how she’d watch him grow up to a man, And as the water cradled the baby away The mother watched on and, I imagine, she sang: Shema, Shema, Shema, Shema and walk in the way of the Lord; Shema, Shema, Shema, Shema and pray for the unexplored. The boy became a man in the house of a king, But a strike would take him far off to exiled land. Then, a bitter-raw liberty started within A shepherding outlaw’s revival began. One morning a bush breathed out fires of wild peace and From the flames did God speak to this timorous sheep man. He said “There’s a vocation change you must pursue; Be a leader, be a promise, and first, I ask you:” Shema, Shema, Shema, Shema and walk in the way of the Lord; Shema, Shema, Shema, Shema and pray for the unexplored. So the man then led a nation forth to the freedom God prepared. He said “Friends, I’ve lived a good and frightful life no man has shared, To the mothers and sons, to the shepherds and all those who worry what the future contains, Know that all the world will pass away; it is our God who sustains.” Shema, Shema, Shema, Shema and hear Adonai our Lord; Shema, Shema, Shema, Shema and pray for the unexplored. Shema, Shema, Shema, Shema, Shema, Shema, Shema, Shema, Shema, Shema, Shema, Shema.