Clarity VS Trust

Wouldn’t it be so easy and awesome for us if God would just email us the next thing He wants us to do?

Do you find yourself asking God, “How do I get clarity? What do I need to do next? What are the steps I need to take?” These questions are things I struggle with all the time.

A story that changed my life

When John Kavanaugh, the noted and famous ethicist, went to Calcutta, he was seeking Mother Teresa … and more. He went for three months to work at “the House of the Dying” to find out how best he could spend the rest of his life.

When he met Mother Teresa, he asked her to pray for him.

“What do you want me to pray for?” she replied.

He then uttered the request he had carried thousands of miles: “Clarity. Pray that I have clarity.”

“No,” Mother Teresa answered, “I will not do that.”

When he asked her why, she said, “Clarity is the last thing you are clinging to and must let go of.”

When Kavanaugh told Mother Teresa that she always seemed to have clarity, the very kind of clarity he was looking for, Mother Teresa laughed and said: “I have never had clarity; what I have always had is trust. So I will pray that you trust God.”

3 key lessons

There are three valuable lessons I gleaned from that short story, and I’d like to expand upon a bit with my own personal experience:

1. Find your Strider

Just like Frodo in The Lord of the Rings, we all need a Strider (aka Aragorn.) Strider wasn’t the guru, but he was definitely a few steps ahead of the hobbits. When we are trying to figure out what’s next in our lives, we need to seek out mentors. Your mentor doesn’t have to be a guru in his or her field, just a few steps ahead of you.

You can start by asking them if you can buy them a cup of coffee and ask them a few questions. Take notes. Establish a relationship and think of ways that you can add value to your mentors’ lives in return. Write a personal note of thanks to each of your mentors for his or her time. Most importantly, listen to what they share with you and take action. That is the biggest “thank you” ever for a mentor!

2. Be Open Minded

Be open to constructive feedback and a different way of thinking. Although we would love to hear our mentor tell us we are AMAZING and doing everything right, that is not how we grow. Be aware of defensiveness; sometimes a mentor will only be warning you of mistakes made in his or her own life, but sometimes a mentor will point out blind spots he or she sees in us.

There are two categories of feedback. The feedback we agree with and feedback we don’t agree with. I believe that all personal feedback is relevant because it is important to our relationships and how people are experiencing us. Take this feedback gladly and GROW into all kinds of new possibilities!

3. The speed of trust

Learn how to trust God and move forward is intentional and can happen quickly. Take action, action begets trust, trust begets clarity. Don’t be a victim of the paralysis of analysis…or as I have heard it said another way, “God won’t steer a parked car!”

Seek God’s will and seek His presence daily, absolutely!!! But you must move on that urging in your heart BEFORE you receive some perfectly clear plan. Trust God to lay out your plan only just as you need it, one small step at a time, and be willing to hear Him say, “GO!” with no advance warning… and be ready to act on it!

In the Eternal Leadership podcast episode with Jeff Goins, he says that people think they need clarity to move into action, but in reality, action begets clarity. TAKE ACTION this week and see what happens in your life!

What is something that works for you to find that next small step forward?

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