Doing The Next Good Thing
by Fr. Joe Tetlow, SJ
Several times recently, elderly people have written or said to me (an elderly person myself): "I don't know why the Lord is leaving me here."
I've been telling them three things:
Trust in His Reasoning: You can bet that the Lord has very good reason for keeping you in your life world.
It's in Your Best Interest: Those reasons are in your best interest, as well as in the best interest of His Kingdom of Heaven on earth.
Focus on the Present: You don't have to worry about not knowing why God is leaving you here. He's leaving you here for the same reason He brought you into being: to do the next good thing that comes to hand and leave all the rest to Him.
This approach is the way to "do God's will" and "live in God's Presence." When you do the next good thing, you are "trying to find what is pleasing to the Lord," as St. Paul suggested to the Ephesians. Just do the next good thing, and then the next, and the next. Those things are the reasons He's leaving you here.