"If God's In Control Why Am I Trying So Hard?"

Christopher Abel, a Protestant seminarian, attempts to answer the question that plague many of us: "When should we fight for what we want? And when should we wait for God to act? " This article, published on ze awesome Relevant.com, was released in September 2013. Keep in mind the words of Blsd. Pierre Giorgio Frassati when reading this article: "If we have God at the center of all of our actions, we will reach the goal."

The following is an excerpt: 

My grandparents have always been fighters.

When they met, he was a high school dropout and she was attending an ivy league college. It didn’t stop him from trying, and they married shortly after. Together they fought to start a business and lose it to a fire. They fought her onset of diabetes and his heart attack. They fought to stay in shape as they aged. They fought my grandmother’s cancer for every spare minute they could get.

But my grandparents are also full of stories of providence and chance—moments and times when they happened to be in the right place at the right time. They tell of moments and opportunities that drifted right into their lives without so much as a thought.

My grandparent’s lives are living testimonies to the paradox that is life: Sometimes we fight for what we want, sometimes it falls in our laps.

When should we fight for what we want? And when should we wait for God to act?

So when should we fight for what we want? And when should we wait for God to act?

This tension is evident in stories throughout the Bible. In Genesis 11, we’re told about Babel, an early civilization that is seemingly unified toward a common purpose. Everyone speaks the same language, and their efforts have allowed them to build a tower toward the sky with the intention of reaching heaven and making a “name” for themselves.

The full article can be found here.