“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 said 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.’”

I’ve always thought it would be nice for God to lay out my next five years in a detailed plan complete with charts and graphs. I’d at least like to know where I will be then.

But God’s reply is, “Trust me. Take the next step and trust me. I’ll show you the second step after you take the first.”

We often miss the next steps because we’re unwilling to obey what we already know and take that first step of surrender and obedience. Until then, we will be stuck. More knowledge won’t replace putting into practice what we’ve learned up to this point.

I’m all for the next Bible study and the latest teaching, but it’s pointless unless it becomes more than head knowledge that fails to affect my daily life or change my behavior.

It all starts with trust. I believe God enough to take Him at His word and do what He says. Then He promises to lead me to the next step. It all begins with a “Yes, Lord. What was the question?”