Don't Pray For Clarity

When the brilliant ethicist John Kavanaugh went to work for three months at “the house of the dying” in Calcutta, he was seeking a clear answer as to how best spend the rest of his life.  On the first morning there he met Mother Teresa.  She asked, “And what can I do for you?” Kavanaugh asked her to pray for him.

“What do you want me to pray for?” she asked.  He voiced the request that he had borne thousands of miles from the United States: “Pray that I have clarity.”

She said firmly, “No, I will not do that.”   When he asked her why, she said, “Clarity is the last thing you are clinging to and must let go of.”  When Kavanaugh commented that she always seemed to have the clarity he longed for, she laughed and said, “I have never had clarity; what I have always had is trust.  So I will pray that you trust God.”

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Clarity's great when it's afforded to you, but don't let it hold you up when it's not. Move forward, open doors, look around. Submit your plans to God and trust he'll guide you whether you can see or not.

Brennan Manning I'll Miss You

Brennan Manning passed away today. If you don't know him I hope you would. Outside of my understanding of Jesus no voice has spoken to me of the Father like Brennan. Of love, grace, acceptance. Of being a son. Of unconditional.

To believe in what God believes of me, not what I of myself. To belong to.

“Real freedom is freedom from the opinions of others. Above all, freedom from your opinions about yourself. ” ~ Brennan Manning

There Is No Zero Risk

"How do you evaluate the risk of not doing something?" - Tim, Zero Dark Thirty

Sometimes the riskiest play in life is to stay where you are. To remain safe. Waiting for a better time. To let life roll by and see what happens. Sometimes nothing happens. That can be comfortable. A comfortable story.

The great human narratives are filled with risk. Searchers of possibility. Dreamers with plans. And action. Faith.

But what if I step out and it doesn't work?

What if it does.