“This, then, is how you should pray: “‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.’ Matthew 6:9-13
“You are very concerned with making the right choices about your work. You have so many options that you are constantly overwhelmed by the question “What should I do and what should I not do?” You are asked to respond to many concrete needs. There are people to visit, people to receive, people to simply be with. There are issues that beg for attention, books it seems important to read, and works of art to be seen. But what of all this truly deserves your time?
Start by not allowing these people and issues to possess you. As long as you think that you need them to be yourself, you are not really free. Much of their urgency comes from your own need to be accepted and affirmed. You have to keep going back to the source: God’s love for you.
In many ways, you still want to set your own agenda. You act as if you have to choose among many things, which all seem equally important. But you have not fully surrendered yourself to God’s guidance. You keep fighting with God over who is in control.
Try to give your agenda to God. Keep saying, “Your will be done, not mine.” Give every part of your heart and your time to God and let God tell you what to do, where to go, when and how to respond. God does not want you to destroy yourself. Exhaustion, burnout, and depression are not signs that you are doing God’s will. God is gentle and loving. God desires to give you a deep sense of safety in God’s love. Once you have allowed yourself to experience that love fully, you will be better able to discern who you are being sent to in God’s name.”
Henri Nouwen (1932-1996) in The Inner Voice of Love: A Journey Through Anguish to Freedom (New York: Image, 1996) 105-106.
Many people I know these days are looking for work. “What should I do?” They ask. For my own part, as I personally don’t serve one employer or organization but many, I often complete projects and have bandwidth for new ones, so I myself periodically ask this question: “What should I do and what should I not do?” Nouwen’s advice is so enriching.
None of us, from those looking for a job to the fully employed, should look for our acceptance and affirmation from our work. We must focus instead on God’s love for us. Rather than being obsessed with the question of what we should do or not do, we must give our agenda over to God and trust Him to send us out in loving service in His name.
I can relate to Nouwen who held prestigious posts at Yale and Harvard, but found even greater joy in serving at unexpected places like L’Arche Daybreak, where he spent a decade ministering among the developmentally disabled. He testifies that those transitions were definitely not in his plans for his life. Perhaps you too can relate from your own vocational journey. That’s why the advice Nouwen offers from his own experience is so enriching.
See for yourself. Try to give your agenda to God. God’s agenda for each of us may be to serve in places we least expect and yet, those may be the places where our most generous service will be performed because it will be filled with God’s love.