The Way to Peace

For most people, it seems like there is no middle ground between overconfidence and lack of confidence. Either we believe we know what is best and don’t need help from anyone else, let alone God, or we live in a constant state of low-level anxiety about our ability to be successful in our work and relationships.

It is our relationship with God that helps us find a middle ground between pride and false humility. It is an honor to be entrusted by God with the task of raising a family, teaching, or the like, but as Susan Quaintance, OSB, has noted, “…the one who is asking is also the one who is providing the grace and strength and creativity to do the job. I am not in charge of the big picture, of the how, of the outcome. Taking my fragile ego out of the equation makes it possible not to be afraid.”

The way to peace is to do our best — not more than our best, which is a sign of pride and leads to exhaustion, or less than our best, which is a sign of fearfulness and anxiety — and then let go of the outcome. In his book The Five Agreements, Don Miguel Ruiz says, “Doing your best is going to change from moment to moment; it will be different when you are tired as opposed to well rested. Under any circumstance, simply do your best and you will avoid self-judgment, self-abuse, and regret.”

Dan Schutte has written a beautiful song, These Alone Are Enough, that includes the following lyrics: “Give me nothing more than your love and grace. These alone, O God, are enough for me.” God’s wellspring of love and grace is inexhaustible. The question is whether we truly believe that is enough for us.