I wish I could say I had the answers! But I have long given up waiting for the answer to be blowing in the wind, or written in the sky. I don't think that there is just one path that God has chartered for me. I reckon that God knows humanity well enough to understand that we like our choices, (tonight, it was ice cream or cream meringue). And as a result I think that God can cope with a multiple-choice pathway that will achieve God's purpose for me and others, and that will give me satisfaction, fulfillment - together with a good dose of challenge along the way.
What I am pretty sure about is that the answer is in giving yourself for others, because others matter. And that's probably,(as hard as it is for this emotion adverse Man to say) because love matters, and love is always God's default.
It was with these thoughts racing through my mind, that I was preparing to lead a faith discussion with a group of colleagues, Christians and Muslims, the other day and I drifted to a passage of scripture from the Bible (James 1:26-27) that challenged me, and as I am want to do, I rewrote it for myself. I shared this paraphrase with my colleagues, and together we spoke of how both the Quran and the Bible Challenge the people of the Book, people of faith, to be more than hearers, but people of action, people of acceptance, people of integrity and people of love.
I can look like a good example of a Christian man by working to alleviate the suffering of the poor; I can be an advocate on behalf of the voiceless; I can be an activist on the side of the marginalised and forgotten. But if, behind closed doors, I am unable to control my tongue, or my mind; if I am more wiling to perpetuate prejudice than practice partnership - then I'm lying to myself, and to you; my faith is shallow and worthless. Sure, I am religious, but my religion is nothing more than a veneer, and my example is a lie.
I think it matters most that I use the gifts God has given me, that I honour the investment others have made in me,(often at great expense to themselves) and that I be a person of integrity and love.
