What am I supposed to do?

The eternal question. Asked of monks and yogis and gurus throughout human history by people looking for a right answer. Certainty. Conviction. Righteousness. We expect the answer is simple and that we’re somehow unable to find it or name it or settle down upon it.

We center the story upon ourselves as the protagonist, of course. Life is lived in the first person. But that doesn’t mean we’re the hero. That the world is dependent on us to get this one thing right or otherwise fall victim to the machinations of the antagonist.

In asking the question, we’re putting ourselves at the center. But Jesus keeps inviting us to put God at the center. To draw our attention away from ourselves and toward others — not in judgment or contempt, but in empathy, grace, and love. To see others as God sees us: with eyes of love, hope, and mercy.

God is the hero. We’re here to tell the story, to participate in the living into it, the living embodiment of God’s grace and love in the here and now as a threaded narrative of millions of protagonists, an ensemble cast, praying for grace and mercy.

When we re-center our lives on God, we become less obsessed with knowing what we’re supposed to do because that true character of love shines through.

The answer, in the end, is always this:

Love.