Si Dios Quiere (Waiting On God)
Courtesy of Renée Rodriguez Photography
In my experience, it’s a very Latino thing to hear parents or other family say, “Si Dios quiere.” Roughly translated, it means “if God wishes it.” When I would discuss my goals or plans with my Mom, I think that she thought that I lost some humility because I would hear her say, “Si Dios quiere.”
I get the spirit behind the saying. I am aware that what I have earned are blessings. As easily as they came, they can easily be taken away. In my community and workplace, I have seen reminders of how easily people and things can go away.
I am both Christian and Stoic: two different but complementary viewpoints that discuss how humankind is not the center of all and that there are things beyond our control. For example, on the Stoic side, I was able to find this quote by Epictetus,
“The chief task in life is simply this: to identify and separate matters, so that I can say clearly to myself, which are externals not under my control and which have to do with the choices I actually control. Where then do I look for good and evil? Not to uncontrollable externals, but within myself to the choices that are my own…”
In my first piece, “Hello World,” I referenced the Serenity Prayer, which I think is a good bridge between the two:
“God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
Courage to change the things I can,
And wisdom to know the difference.”
On the Christian side, I found this passage from 1 Peter 1:24 in the New Testament,
“For, "All flesh is like grass, and all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers, and the flower falls off..”
Each of these passages talk about how nothing lasts forever and, hopefully, leads the reader towards the humility of realizing that we don’t really has as much control as we think. God forbid, if someone close to us passes away, there’s might not be much notice nor much that we can do. The car that you might “love” could become involved in an accident and be totaled. The company that employed you for decades could go out of business tomorrow.
So, I have spoken about how things last forever. Now to speak about taking action over the things that we do have control.
In his Enchiridion, we again hear from Epictetus,
“We should always be asking ourselves: “Is this something that is, or is not, in my control?”
While some people might think that having lots of choices, I feel that it came often lead to confusion and decision paralysis. Have you ever been to a restaurant with zillions of choices and don’t know what to order? In my opinion, distilling a decision to two or maybe even three options helps make the options clear and speeds up decision making.
In Luke 6:38, we hear about why we should take action,
“For with the measure you use it will be measured back to you.”
I am a firm believer that what you put out into the universe comes out to you. Call it karma or perhaps God’s will. Maybe it’s even how the Universe does things. I believe that we should do what we can, especially when it’s the right thing to do precisely because it’s the right thing to do. I would rather do the right thing, even if it bites me in the ass than to feel guilty for not taking important action when I should have. When I go to bed, I want to sleep in peace.
While the world can be complicated, scary and overwhelming, it doesn’t have to be. Let us focus on what we can do. Let us do the right thing not only because it is but to make things easier for the world around us. Enough bad things happen that we don’t need to contribute to them through doing the wrong thing nor through inaction. I can’t pretend to think that it’s always easy. However, I do feel that it’s a whole lot easier than we think.