What is yours to do?

A piece of Sunday's sermon about asking the right question first

On Sunday I shared a message with my church about the collective work of constantly and consistently (re)building our world to fit the common good. A task that we never quite seem to accomplish, and yet by committing to its pursuit, we do create glimmers.

Here is a piece of Sunday’s sermon…

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It has been my sacred work, ever since Juniper’s birth, to protect and support the mother-baby bond between her and Emma. I’ve never been more clear on anything in my life, that that is my work to do.

And, now, of course, there’s other work to do too. But one of the things that I’ve been reflecting on—especially as I’ve prepared my heart and my schedule and our family’s new routines, in order to return to my good work as a pastor, along with my work as a coach—I’ve been reflecting on these two questions:

1. What is mine to do?

2. And how do I do it well?

This next insight is maybe a little bit more Coach Aram than Pastor Aram, but I want to offer it, because I think it’s valuable, and it’s this:

The order of those two questions is really important.

If you’re like me, sometimes you might get them backwards, focusing first on how you can do something well before getting clear on whether or not it’s the thing that you should actually do.

Have you ever said “Yes” to doing something that wasn’t really yours to do? “Yes” to someone else’s agenda without considering whether it’s purposefully aligned with how you are called to live your life and expend your energy?

For some of us an easier question might be: Do you ever not do that? Scared of the implications of saying “No”, of letting someone down, or of not being everything to everyone in your life, at all times?

Maybe that’s you. Maybe that feels familiar.

There are others of us who need to ask: How often am I recruiting others to do the work that is clearly mine to do? neglecting my responsibility? maybe afraid of getting it wrong or doing it imperfectly, so just avoiding it and not doing it at all?

Each of us probably falls down on both sides of those tendencies from time to time: Saying “Yes” to doing work that isn’t yours to do; passing the buck on work that is clearly yours to do.

I’m bringing this up because we have work to do together, collectively. In our community, and across lines of difference too, together with people of other faith traditions and other lived experiences, everyone of us—I really believe this—has a particular contribution to make to the common good…

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You can watch the whole sermon here if you like (especially if you want a little lesson on the book of Isaiah in the Hebrew bible), but you don’t have to do that to ask yourself, right now:

What is mine to do today? What is my contribution in this moment?

Keep it small. Something, well… doable.

And may you have the clarity to know it, and the courage to do it. I have no doubt that you do.