[This reflection by Martin Shorey was published in the weekly news bulletin of Horley Baptist Church, 05/Jan/2025]
Would you live your life differently if you knew what the future held? Would you take more risks? Act more boldly? Would your priorities shift? If I knew the outcome of my actions in advance, perhaps I’d be more willing to try new things, to step out of my comfort zone. I’d feel secure knowing that I wouldn’t fail – that the next step is the right one. And if it wasn’t, I could simply choose a different path.
When ethicist John Kavanaugh spent three months at the “house of the dying” in Calcutta, he was searching for direction about how to dedicate the rest of his life. On his first day, he met Mother Teresa. She asked, “What can I do for you?”
He replied, “Please pray for me.”
“What do you want me to pray for?” she asked.
“Pray that I have clarity,” he said, summing up the longing that had brought him halfway across the world.
To his surprise, Mother Teresa refused. “No, I won’t do that,” she said firmly.
When he asked why, she explained, “Clarity is something you are holding onto and need to let go of.”
When Kavanaugh pointed out that she always seemed to live with such clarity, she laughed and replied, “I have never had clarity. What I’ve always had is trust. I will pray that you learn to trust God.”
As we step into a new year, we face the same reality: we do not know what lies ahead. We don’t know whether we will succeed or fail or if our choices will prove wise or misguided. But what if success isn’t about clarity or perfection? What if it’s about trusting in God’s plan? If we humbly offer our lives in service to God, then whether we succeed or stumble, we can be assured of this: nothing is ever wasted when done for Him.
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Previous Sunday reflection: Let the Foolish Things of the World Confound the Wise by Chris Ginter
Contributed by Martin Shorey; © Martin Shorey