Not so complicated...

"There are no secret truths! There is no spiritual giant out there who has this figured out, while the rest of us are bumbling around in the dark. It is just not that complicated. Jesus summarized spirituality with two commands: Love God and love your neighbor."

~ Adam Hamilton, Seeing Gray in a World of Black and White

I think it really easy to get caught up in the idea that there is a right answer, and many times that is simply not the case. I remember when I had just graduated from college and I was trying to figure out what I wanted to do next. I worked at camp the summer after college but I had not a clue what I was going to do when the summer was over. I was clueless. I talked to my friend David about this, and he essentially told me that sometimes there is not a right answer - that if I were to go into school counseling, teach head start, go into Christian education or youth ministry - any of those things are good things - as long as I seek to glorify God in the midst of them.

I think sometimes we get caught up in the idea that God has a plan for our lives and that if we don't figure it out, we have messed up. But I believe in a God who is big enough to adapt. One of my many mottos for life is, "Make a plan and expect it to change." If I find that to be true in my life, dealing with primarily teenagers in one church, how much more is God able to adapt to the things that we choose in our lives. Because God is certainly much bigger and more capable and more amazing than I am.

We make things complicated when we think we have to get the answer right. There will be times when we doubt and question what we believe. In the chapter before the one with this quote, Adam Hamilton says, "Doubt is not only natural, it is healthy, provided it spurs us to further reflection and a search for what is true."

So keep seeking answers. But know that sometimes it isn't a matter of getting things right, but a matter of simply loving God and loving people and letting the rest fall where it may. It's just not that complicated...