Where Are You Going?

David Martins
Jun 27, 2019
3 min read

“Hagar, maid of Sarai, where have you come from and where are you going?”

Poignant words from the First Reading of today’s Mass, as the Church tells us the story of Abraham, his wife Sarah, and the salve girl Hagar. God has promised Abraham that he’s be the father of many nations, but after much time had passed, and his elderly wife had still not yet conceived, they took matters into their own hands and Sarah tells Abraham to sleep with Hagar, her slave girl, so that the Lord’s promise could be met.

Abraham does it. Hagar gets pregnant. Problems ensure. This situation that had disaster written all over it from the very beginning quickly plays its hand, and Sarah takes offense at how Hagar starts treating her after she sleeps with Abraham. She starts to abuse Hagar, who flees. She encounters an angel on the way who asks her the above question: “Hagar, maid of Sarai, where have you come from and where are you going?”

We all need to ask ourselves this question every day: Where have you come from, and where are you going?

Where we have come from is so vital because it makes us who we are: the ups and downs, loves and losses, betrayals and victories. Our sin and our virtue…all of it make us who we are. When we try and run from where we come from, it inevitably brings us no satisfaction, because forever before us looms the question “where have you come from?”

Turning over that entire reality to God is the first step that sets us down the path to where we are going.

This parcel of wisdom is not news. It’s at the core of the spiritual work of Ignatius of Loyola. When someone does the Spiritual Exercises, they begin with examining where they have been, and then work towards discerning where we are going.

Without a doubt when we look at where we have come from – when we see the mistakes along the way- those were likely times that we tried to do things on our own: like Abraham and Sarah. When we try and act based on our own wills, the result is typically not what we were looking for. If our guidelines for where we are going however is etched out by the will of God, the results will be far better than the mistakes in the past.

This is why in Alcoholics Anonymous and other 12 Step Fellowships, the participant is asked to “turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understand him.” The person in recovery from addiction learns the central lesson that when doing things on our own, things didn’t end well. Only this power that is greater than ourselves – this power that is in fact stronger then even addiction – has the wisdom, power, and perfection to lead us down the right road every time.

So…where have you been, and where are you going?

It starts with a shift of perspective. So often our prayer lives are time spent asking God to help us with achieving OUR will. We don’t go to God for answers, we go to him for help with achieving the answers we have come up with ourselves. We create God in our image, forgetting that in fact it’s the other way around.

The Dave Matthews Band has a great song entitled “Where Are You Going?” It’s the words of a person reaching out to lover/friend saying “I have no answers for you, but I do know that where you are, is where I wanna be.”

Maybe this sentiment is the most honest one we can bring before God each day. Maybe a good prayer for each of us every morning could come from the lips of Dave Matthews:

“I am no Superman.

I have no answers, for you.

I am no hero, aw that's for sure.