This might sound weird or, if you know me very well, not surprising. But I like lines. Not the lines you stand in—like at the grocery store or amusement parks. And not the lines that keep people divided—the ones that say one group of people is better than another. No, I don’t like those lines at all. But I do, like lines.

I like the lines that directors tape on stages, to tell people where to stand so their performance can make the most impact. I like the lines painted on highways and in parking lots, that keep cars from getting too close to one another. And in football, I like the line the TV magically paints on the field to show us where our team needs to get the ball for a first down. In our world, we don’t have to talk to a kindergarten teacher to know, lines can be very helpful.

Only there is one line I have struggled with a lot over the years. Like so many lines in life, this one isn’t made with tape, paint, or technology. If it were, I think life would be easier. But as it has to do with Faith, it’s not surprising that it remains unseen. The line I am talking about is that fine one between faith and action.

If you have spent any time in church or are on a faith journey of your own, you might know exactly what I am talking about. It’s the line we look for when faced with a strong unmet desire. Or when it feels like the meeting of our needs is in question.

Those of us who were raised in a Christian home, have been taught that we can trust God completely with our lives—but what does that mean?

In the past, I have known people who believe that it means they can sit and wait for God to bring them a job, a spouse, or a needed change—that they don’t have to lift a finger. At the same time, I have also known others who say they trust God completely, then spend their days wringing their hands with worry, while working to make life happen all on their own. Neither example seemed successful, or appealing.

Then there is the old saying, “God helps those who help themselves.” Which illuminates my search all the more—what is the help I need to do on my own? And what is the help that God has for me? At what point do we wait for God to move, and

At what point do we take things into our own hands?

When I was looking for a job after college, I struggled with these questions. When I had been single for more years than I wanted to be, I wrestled with them. And over the past few years, my search for this line, again has been all too familiar.

What is God calling me to do?

And what is He going to do for me?

So often, I wish He would hand me a script and place a line on the stage for me stand on. But God doesn’t give us lines—at least not as many as we think, or as we’d like. Mostly, I’m beginning to think, because He doesn’t want us to face life’s struggles without him.

If He gave me a line, I might do all I can on my side of it, without ever consulting Him. I would do my part, my way, leaving Him out of it until I decided it was His turn. In this scenario, I would be forgetting He is God, and I am not. In this scenario, I would be giving Him very little room to move. And I think He knows that.

That’s perhaps why, rather than giving me a clear line to stand on, it’s as if He’s been asking me to dance. Only, I can’t hear the music and I don’t know the steps. I have only His leading and a few clues He’s already given me.

Just as dancers’ personalities and body tells them whether ballet or tap is their thing, God has given each of us clues within us about the dance we’re made for. There are talents and desires that whisper in our hearts who we are meant to be. And while I have been looking for a line, while I have been trying to figure out my part, God has been inviting me to take his hand.

Then to take a step.

And then to take another.

The process has been slow. But as you might have guessed, I am finding there is no line. There are times where God asks me to wait for Him to move, and others where He is waiting for me to take a step. But ours is not a dance about who’s turn it is. Rather it’s about finding my way in step with Him.

Have you struggled to find the line between faith and action?

How has God met you in this pursuit?

 

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Photo by Patrick Tomasso on Unsplash