I feel most myself, a tuned bell resonating with the spheres, when I’m descaling my electric kettle.

(An angel appears and informs me that I’m doing what I was meant to do.)

When you have divine confirmation that you’re pursuing your calling, it gives you strength to keep pursuing it.

Abby believes in the project, although she doesn’t necessarily share the telos as a vision. Hard to complain though—clean kettle.

(The same angel every time.)

Sometimes a self-consciousness visits me, and badgers my ego raw with questions like: “Aren’t you disappointed that such a small plot’s been allotted you?”

Because it’s true, in the economics of the thing, that I don’t see where it’s going.

(It’s like, don’t they have another angel up there?)

But in the moments when I’m in the midst of descaling, and have directed my focus hard on the work of the vinegar eating away the scales from the heating element, then I feel the fire of eternity burn in my heart, and don’t consider anything but the joy of the process.

I’m passive in the descaling. I add the ravenous vinegar and watch. And people point my passivity out like it’s a negative aspect. It’s not. I’m part of something much bigger than myself. The act of descaling an electric kettle. I’m a conduit for the divine energies to cleanse and renew. I bring God to bear on that kettle, and the light of His unfading eye makes all kettles new.

The simple fact that I haven’t dealt with very many angels (exactly one) means that I don’t really know if I’ve gotten a second-rate one. I wouldn’t be suspicious, except that he seems to be missing teeth, and one of his legs is the leg of a bull.

I’ve also descaled with lemons. With lemons you get to actually boil the water. The fact, though, remains: lemons are not as strong as vinegar. If you want a kettle clean, don’t be seduced by lemons. Go with vinegar.

I’m not stupid. I know there’s no market for kettle descaling. But callings that function outside of market boundaries, what are we supposed to do with those? Ignore them? I bask in the light of the divine when I do my work. Should I abandon my palace for a hovel built on the crude architecture of supply and demand?

My angel arrives. He speaks in a vast voice, while scratching at his nose with a wing, his tone rich with a message from a being who exists beyond being: Good work.

Image by Gabe Stevenson