On Clarity and Trust

About a year ago, Isaac introduced me to this short story involving Mother Theresa and a man named John Kavanaugh who sought clarity about his future. Although the story was written originally by Brennan Manning in his book, Ruthless Trust, the particular rendition below is compliments of Mark Daniel's blog.

As part of John Kavanaugh's search for future direction, he volunteered to work for three months at "The House of the Dying" in Calcutta, India, a place founded by Mother Teresa. The very first morning he was there, Kavanaugh met Mother Teresa. She asked him, “What can I do for you?”

He paused to think and then asked that she pray for him. “What do you want me to pray for?” she wondered. “Pray," he said, "that I have clarity.”

Her abrupt response took him aback. “No," she told him, "I will not do that.”

When he asked why not, she told him, “Clarity is the last thing you are clinging to and must let go of.”

When Mr. Kavanaugh observed that she seemed to have the kind of clarity he wanted, she laughed out loud and told him, “I have never had clarity; what I have always had is trust. So I will pray that you trust God.”
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