Remind me that you measure achievement not in terms of public recognition, but in terms of faithfulness to you [God] and your cause. Let me not underestimate my ability to serve you in whatever capacity you call me, and give me the wisdom to make the most of every opportunity. (Through the Year with Jimmy Carter, page 229).
Today I was talking privately with a friend who Monday will interview for a position at work. She told me with complete earnestness that she wanted God’s will to be done in the candidate selection. I was in the process of saying “Yes, but [I hope you get the job].” She cut me off abruptly after I said “but” and she shook her finger at me and said “NO BUTs!” It is important to understand that for the past weeks she has assiduously studied the job duties for the position in question and has efficiently and effectively filled in for that position after the former occupant retired. In other words, she has been what I like to call an “earnest player.” And it is deeply significant to note that she is not alone in the desire that God's will take precedence. Earnest players—while doing their very best in leading towards an outcome—still can hold that God’s will is of final importance.
In a few months I will be retiring from work. I have longed for a high-profile task of significance. However it may well be in God’s will that I continue after retirement “under the radar” in a private one-on-one prison ministry. With God’s help the stance I will assume is that I will be content with wherever place and whatever task God assigns me. It is a lesson I may never fully comprehend. Yet it is a long-established fact that those things God holds as significant often contrast sharply with the world’s notion of noteworthiness. In other words, my firm response must come to be such as my friend’s—NO BUTs!!!
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