So What Now?

Have you ever gotten to the point where you feel that you have done everything that you can, given your very best and somehow, it is still not enough? Have you ever worked extremely hard and purposefully trying to live a good Christian life and everything just remains a mess? Have you ever said the words, “Okay God; so now what?”

We all get to this point at different times. It is becoming more and more difficult to live a good, simple and caring life than ever before. There are times that it seems no matter how much good we try to put in the world, it doesn’t do much good. That is when God answers our question with a very simple, “Keep doing it.”

That’s it. Keep-on keeping-on. Hang in there. Don’t give up. Don’t grow weary in well-doing. Insert whatever platitude that fits best, but it comes down to keep doing it. We never abandon our good works. We never abandon what God has called us to do. We don’t lose faith; we do not surrender hope. When I get to a point that I ask so now what, I pray that I get reminded that I forgot a few things.

Let us never forget that the good life travels a hard road. The business of sacrificing self, kindness to others, service to the world, forgiveness and compassion; these are the hardest things we will ever do and we have to do them every day. I only start so-now-whatting when I have an expectation of how things should be and it just sneaks in on me. Sometimes I do want a little something back because I do a lot of good. But as soon as I do, I sabotage the process. As soon as I want some kind of acknowledgment or reward for what I have done, I’m right back to why I needed to do this stuff in the first place.

I believe that God gives us the strength to do what He asks us to do. I don’t think He gives us more that He and we can handle together. It’s okay to get tired from walking this path. If we don’t ever get tired, we’re really not pushing ourselves. I guess all it is, really, is just another opportunity to drop to our knees and say “God, I just can’t do this without Your Help and I am extremely open to any and all suggestions at this time.” Conundrum resolved.

So now what?

Thank you
Jim

James A. Francetich is a freelance writer and author. The opinions expressed are solely of the author and do not represent any community based recovery programs, private or public entities or any governmental agencies.