What's next for Egypt? What's next for any of us?

We've all been thrilled in the last few days to see Egyptians celebrating their success at ousting Mubarek.  The question in everybody's mind now is 'what's next?'  It's a long way from the vacating of the presidency to having a healthy, functioning, democratic government.  Protesting in the face of possible arrest and torture must have been frightening.  But the job ahead for Egyptians now is certainly daunting.

Over a hundred years ago Walt Whitman wrote this: Now understand me well-- it is provided in the essence of things that from any fruition of success, no matter what, shall come forth something to make a greater struggle necessary (Song of the Open Road, 14).

We can move from one success to the next, through struggle, but even when a goal has been reached, there is another struggle before us.  Maybe this sounds obvious, but I had some trouble learning this in life.  When working toward a goal I would always imagine the upcoming plateau to be longer and sweeter than it was, granting me a longer break from the next chapter than life would allow me.  I would feel disappointment that the next challenge was as big as it was, and as immediate.

With some age and experience I have changed the way I look at my work.  I put less emphasis on getting a challenge over with, and more emphasis on recognizing that the work I'm challenged with in the moment is the right work.  When you love what you do, and have appropriate challenges in front of you, life is good.  You can take a big bite and enjoy it, even if it's not easy.

Not all of us can do a lot about proclaiming the Kingdom of God in our workplaces, but each of us can look at our lives as a whole to see if, and where, we are engaged in the work that matters most.  Not all of us have to be Mother Theresa, but if we are engaged in the right work, somewhere in our lives, we will feel that we are, in fact, part of God's solution, and not mere spectators.  What's the right work for you?