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I follow the posts of a man named Ryan Dowd who works with the homeless community and gives sage advice about that practice. This week he was talking about burnout of staff and exploring how that is frequently connected to outcome. If you feel great when the person you are helping succeeds and dreadful when they fail, you will feel miserable much of the time, leading to cynicism—the hallmark of burnout. The key he says is not attach to the outcome of the client, but to your own well-being, doing the best you can, with attention and intention (and love, my addition) and feeling content with that effort.

I know most of us what to “save the world” in some way. It appears there is a lot that needs it. Dowd calls it “world repair.”  He goes on to say, “If you want to make ‘world repair’ your life’s work, you have to learn to feel its natural rhythm. Every loss Is temporary. Every win is temporary. Either way, what matters is that you get up in the morning and continue the work. When all is said and done, he goes on to say, “In the perfect stillness of eternity, only two things will remain: The spilled colors where you painted kindness on to the canvas of others’ lives, and the pinholes in the firmament where you threw rocks at the darkness to let the light in. Take a moment to lick your wounds and pick up your paintbrush and a rock.”

Whether working with the homeless, raising children or just doing your day job, these words are still true. They are true if you are working for political change as well and God’s justice and reconciliation in the world.

Let go of outcome and do what you know is your best loving effort. That is what we can control. Trust God for the rest. Go choose your colors.

Pastor Marcia Wakeland is a retired ELCA pastor, a spiritual director and a listening advocate. She is interested in the actual experience of having faith and how that is lived out. She can be reached at mwakeland@gmail.com for comments or more questions Her ongoing blog of living out spiritual practices is listeninglife.live