Waiting & Action

Sometimes to get where we're going we need to wait. Sometimes we need to act. Different seasons call for different things.

Wisdom and knowing come from rest. Yet, you can't really know unless you're able to demonstrate the knowing in action.

Rest allows us to listen and then gives the clarity to know when to act. Action when prompted from the deep wisdom of rest will not be motivated by worry and anxiety. Worry and anxiety may accompany your knowing, but won't motivate it.

Much of the activity we witness around us is motivated by worry and anxiety, and fear of rest. Much inactivity, inertia, and stasis in the world is prompted by busyness and insufficient rest, also connected to fear.

Without action you will never truly know. Action is the friend of faith. Our participation is necessary for us to achieve what we were meant to achieve with our lives. So often we wait and wait, hoping for crystal clear vision. We never know if our knowing is right until we act. Our belief must be wed to action to generate faith, which generates hope.

So many fears arise when we consider action. Like Indiana Jones, we have to take a step into the unknown - apparently risking a great fall - before we can know if we can surpass what we or anyone thought was possible. It takes faith for the miracle to transpire.

But like when I use navigation in my car, I want to see the overall route to know what to expect and not just the step-by-step navigation. It seems in following our calling we only get the next right step. So you take that next step, trusting that once you take that step you will learn or realize what the next step is. Walking by faith is so scary. The more you do it, the more you realize that it's like walking in the dark. When walking in the dark, the only way to know the step beyond what you can see is to take the next step. It is a narrow way and you see just the next step. 

First rest, then act, then repeat.

Sometimes, you will have an overarching vision, but no full map for how to get there. This, too, is faith which requires movement towards this grander purpose that does not yet exist and requires trust that you will get what you need on your way.

We are meant to be and celebrate the fragile, beautiful miracle of ourselves and our existence and to know that we need each other and to meet that need we must act.

Rest, act, repeat.

Where are you acting out of worry and fretting when you should be resting?

Where are you "resting" but really procrastinating out of fear when you should be acting?

Where have you lost hope due to insufficient rest and/or action?

What is that unique bigger calling that is in you?

The world needs you resting, the world needs you acting. The world needs this rhythm.

Rest, act, repeat.

Let the love flow.

May you always see the blessing.

-esb