“It’s not what you do; it’s who you become. That’s what you take into eternity. You are an unceasing spiritual being with an eternal destiny in God’s great universe.” ~ Dallas Willard, as quoted by John Ortberg in Soul Keeping: Caring for the Most Important Part of You

This is problematic for the run-of-the-mill human being who, on a good day, can control what he does but has a great deal of difficulty, over any number of days, controlling what he becomes.

So how does one live like that? How can we decide what to do that will “become” us? make more of us? forge us ahead in the God-intended direction?

I’m not sure. And I know completely that I can’t know that for you. But deciding ahead of time that I can’t know is completely defeating. That prevents me from imagining or wondering or asking. What a shame it would be if that, reluctance to ask, defined my relationship with the one who has my eternal destiny in mind.

Perhaps we don’t ask because we don’t want to know. If we knew we would have to do something about the answer. Much safer to stay in the dark and stay quiet.

What if I believed that asking was my entry into becoming? Asking. Not answering. Not knowing. Not doing or not doing. Of course, there would be the responsibility of complying with the word I heard when I asked.

Do I have that kind of courage?

I can always ask to be brave, or at least braver.