Letting Go of the What and Owning the How

You’d think I would get it already. At least I think I should be getting it already. Have you ever had those things in life that you keep having to remind yourself? These are the things we seem to forget over and over.

Sometimes for me they are things my wife has told me quite a few times. A small one being that shaking my leg when I sit sometimes makes her feel nauseous. But I often forget and when I am sitting right next to her I just keep shaking my leg. You’d think I’d know after 7 years of being together dating and marriage, but maybe I need another 3 years to make it a decade and then I will finally get it? Sorry Babe.

Or it’s language study. I don’t know how many times my teacher has told me the word for habit/routine. I was first taught that word a few months ago, and now it is finally sticking! You’d think I would have got it quicker than a few months!

This week I was fretting a little bit. Part of it was wrestling with the plans I set out for ministry here. The other part was not knowing my place here in Cambodia, not knowing how to help, wanting an objective plan that I know will work, or maybe its just a dose of culture shock (yes, still after over a year total of living here). Some of it also might be feeling the expectations of others for what I am/should be doing here (whether they are true or not I am not sure). Either way I was feeling perplexed, a little in over my head and weighted by many different factors.

I wrote about this already HERE, but God is reminding me yet again that it is not so much about WHAT you do but HOW you do it. He calls us to be salt, but not to choose the recipe. When I get bogged down with figuring out a plan to meet goals, or thinking about how to set up a ministry here, or even weighed down with seeing people I love make choices I don’t think is beneficial, He is reminding me that it is time to submit and let Him work.

He does not call us to an end result, He calls us to a process. He does not call us to a what, but rather a how. He never said start a ministry. He never said bear other people’s fruit. He never said save the world. He said be salt, be light. He said love your neighbor. He said whenever you have the opportunity do good to everyone, especially those in the household of faith.

It was the father in the prodigal son story who “when his son was still a long way off” felt compassion and met him where he was at. He doesn’t wait until we get home to meet us, and we don’t need to wait for perfection in people to embrace them. We don’t need to wait until we have a ministry plan all figured out to love people. You really can’t even set up a fishing business until you have fished a little bit yourself. And every season, every lake, stream or whatever has different fish.

So here I am again, letting go of the end result, whether its with people, or ministry plans or my marriage or whatever! And I am recommitting to the everyday steps of loving God and loving people, right where they are at. I am recommitting to the how and letting go of the what.