Before Jesus came to Earth, He was preceded by a man named John. John’s stated purpose was to prepare the way, so that people would be ready when Jesus finally showed up. There is an important message here that can liberate me from some stress.
Too often I have placed myself under undue pressure. I’ve felt (and sometimes been told) that it was my duty to single-handedly provide solutions to matters that were way over my head. And while I’d like to do just that, the truth is that my abilities and resources are limited. So I get to the end of my most valiant efforts, and if the issues are not fully resolved I feel guilty or like a failure.
There are cases where my best course of action is to introduce Jesus to the situation and vice versa. I can talk to all parties, human and divine, wondering out loud what might happen when He eventually intervenes. I can at least be a sounding board, especially when God does the unpredictable, as often occurs.
This doesn’t mean that I’ll shirk responsibility. On the contrary, Jesus may indeed do certain things through me, as He resides in my spirit. At other times He’ll use a corporate community of His followers, or manifest Himself in some other miraculous fashion.
Only the Son of God has the ultimate answers. John knew this and did a good job of preparing the way. There’s nothing more helpful.
Theodore Roosevelt said “Do what you can with what you have where you are.” Add “and leave the rest to God” to that quote and we have a pretty reliable formula for being at peace with the efforts we make. I often think there’s nothing I can do to be helpful in certain situations. Then I realize that if I can do only one small thing, I should do that one small thing. Which brings me back to the concept of effort. Scott Peck defined love as “The will to extend one’s self for the purpose of nuturing one’s own or another’s spiritual growth.” This idea that love is effortful puts things in perspective for me. It pairs well with the concept of helping to “prepare the way” when I can’t be the sole catalyst for change.