I am a relatively handy person—emphasis on “relatively.” There are many things I can install, replace, update, fix, repair, build, create, etc. There are many more things, however, that are well beyond my knowledge and capabilities. The latter I have learned the hard way, unfortunately. Many a time in the past I have gritted my teeth in frustration because I just could not figure out how to do something, or how to do it correctly. Things sometimes escape me. Some processes and procedures simply befuddle me. As time has passed, and as I have aged and matured, I have learned it is better to focus on what I can do—on what I know how to do. I have decided that it is best to go with what I know, and not to spend too much time and mental energy idly exasperated because I cannot do what I do not understand—emphasis on “idly.”
Unlike many life tasks, following Jesus is not procedural. Yet many (most? all?) of us can find ourselves in circumstances where we are idly exasperated. Why? It is often because we spend too much time and mental energy trying to figure out what we cannot yet understand to the detriment of actually doing what we do understand. We neglect what is right in front of us for the sake of focusing on what escapes us. As a result, we “freeze,” and we fail to do what we know to do.
As followers of Jesus, we know what to do. We do the right thing.
–Ricky