I’ve Done My Bit. Now What?
When you’ve done what you can, but you’d still quite like an answer..
I’m waiting for news about something I really want. I’ve done everything I can for now, which is a frustrating place to be when I’d really like to know the answer!
I can get on with other things. I have plenty of those. But the question is still there, and it’s very easy to keep returning to something when there’s nothing more you can usefully do about it.
On Sunday, this arrived in my inbox from Edgar Cayce’s A.R.E.:
“You cannot force, you can only feed, you can only plant, you can only cultivate. God gives the increase.”
It’s part of a longer passage about opening the way, acting and speaking, then leaving the rest with God.
The “cannot force” part was particularly well timed.
If you’re waiting for an answer, hoping something will change or trying to bring something into your life, you might recognise that awkward point too. You’ve taken the action. You still care very much about what happens.
What are you supposed to do with all that wanting while you wait?
Giving it a chance to grow
I first read about Edgar Cayce when I was eighteen. His trance readings fascinated me — the detail, the accounts of information being checked afterwards, and the question of where that knowledge came from. I’m still interested all these years later, and I enjoy receiving these short passages from his readings.
This one brought me back to something quite simple. There is a part for me to do, and there is a part I can’t organise.
I can decide what I want. I can ask, prepare, have the conversation, send the message or take the opportunity. I can pray, set an intention and pay attention to what I feel drawn to do.
But other people have their part in things too. There are decisions I’m not making, conversations I’m not in and timings I don’t know about. Wanting something very much doesn’t give me access to all of that.
Which is probably just as well. I’ve enough to manage already.
The planting image helps. You put something in place and give it what it needs. You don’t expect a seed to grow simply because you’ve planted it, but neither can you make it grow faster by continually interfering with it.
There’s care involved in knowing when to tend something and when to leave it alone.
Is there actually something to do?
Last week I shared a question I love using: “What would it take to…?” You name what you want and put the question out to the universe, without needing to work out the whole answer yourself.
I still like that question. This week, I’m also asking:
“Is there something useful for me to do now?”
Sometimes there is. Something needs checking. A person needs an answer. There’s a practical step I’ve been putting off, or an idea worth following.
Then I can do that.
Other times, I’ve already done what’s needed and I’m uncomfortable because I don’t know what will happen. Going over it again gives me something to occupy myself with, but it doesn’t move anything along.
That can be harder to admit than finding another job to do.
I don’t think we have to stop caring, or pretend we’d be equally delighted with any outcome. I know what I’m hoping for. I’d be disappointed if it didn’t happen.
I can be honest about that without spending the whole waiting period rehearsing the disappointment—or trying to think positively enough to prevent it.
Let the rest of your life carry on
If there’s something you’re waiting for, try separating what needs your attention from what is currently beyond it.
Write down the next useful action, if there is one. If it belongs on another day, decide when you’ll come back to it. You don’t need to keep making that decision all afternoon.
Then choose something else you actually want to give your attention to.
It might be work you enjoy, a friend, a book, the garden or a quiet evening. Something that has a place in your life regardless of the answer you’re waiting for.
You’re allowed to enjoy yourself before it’s settled.
That’s the part I want to remember. I don’t want to put everything else on hold until I know. There are good things happening now, as well as something I hope is on its way.
So I’ll keep my intention. I’ll do what’s mine to do and respond when there’s something to respond to.
For today, I’ve done my bit. I can give it a little room.
If there’s a lot going on while you’re waiting, and you’d like some time to talk, receive Healing and explore the Tarot with me, you can find out more about my private Healing & Tarot sessions here. In person or online. ❤️
with love
Comments