Infuse your life with action. Don’t wait for it to happen. Make it happen. Make your own future. Make your own hope. Make your own love. And whatever your beliefs, honor your creator, not by passively waiting for grace to come down from upon high, but by doing what you can to make grace happen… yourself, right now, right down here on Earth.
– Bradley Whitford
There’s a similar quote that helps us to understand this question in a more clear Catholic light, from none other than the great St. Augustine:
“Pray as though everything depended on God. Work asthough everything dependedon you.” – St. Augustine
There’s no conflict between trusting in God, and working hard ourselves. There’s no conflict between praying for God’s guidance, His will to be done, and doing the best we can with what we know, trusting in His grace.
Ultimately it comes down to action. The more we wait, the more we hesitate, the more we sit back and look towards others to make changes happen, the less will happen.
We have the right, and the duty, to do what has to be done. To make the changes that have to be made. To take the steps that have to be taken.
Here I am writing about it; maybe a little ironic. It’s easy to say, harder to do. But I’m also doing my best to do it, to take the steps. In my case, that means daily prayer, daily exercize, the practice of serious thought, and the expression of that thought in daily writing. Small steps at the beginning, but working towards bigger changes.
This year holds many changes for me. I have a daughter on the way, due in about a month. I have a decision to make as to place of residence and place of work before the summer is out most likely. I have a lot of growing to do and learning to do, but today, just today, I’m focusing on doing what has to be done right here and now.