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The story is told of St. Francis of Assisi being asked, while hoeing his garden, “What would you do if you suddenly learned that you were to die at sunset today?" He replies, "I would finish hoeing my garden."
Today, I shuffled through some mail, made phone calls to some sick church members, visited and prayed with a dear lady who lost her son in an untimely and sudden death, laid hands on and had healing prayer for a little girl who had missed school due to a headache she awakened with, stood beside the hospital bed of a man of eighty-nine years and listened to stories from his earlier days—especially he was delighted to tell me of how he met and fell in love with his late wife—, … Now, I am writing this for you. I feel the peace and contentment of knowing that if I were to die before darkness sheds its veil over this earth tonight, I would be glad I spent my day the way I did today. The details of this day was the Will of God for me.
We can be trapped in what I call the “keep seeking what God wants me to do” syndrome. What you are meant to do is, usually, go ahead and do exactly what you have opportunity to do. Of course, sometimes God does reveal to us a major change in life in order to follow the Will of God, but that is the exception, not the rule.
Question: How might you avoid action by continuing to seek a clear sign of what God wants you to do? How might you see the Will of God in the details of your life now, rather than in some major change in your life?
OneLife Ministries is a pastoral outreach and nurture ministry of the First United Methodist Church, Fort Meade, FL. For Spiritual Direction, Pastoral Counseling, spiritual formation workshops, Christian meditation retreats, or more information about OneLife, write Rev. Dr. Brian K. Wilcox at briankwilcox@comcast.net.
Brian's book of mystical love poetry, An Ache for Union, can be ordered through major bookdealers.
Open Hearts, Open Minds, Open Doors
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