Life lessons
May. 22nd, 2006 06:23 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
alpharaposaOne of the folks on my friends list commented that he doesn't know what life's trying to teach him. I told him it's okay- sometimes there really isn't much of a lesson being taught.
A lot of things happen that I don't understand. I accept that people act that way, and even know that this or that thing is fairly common. Sometimes, I can vaguely perceive the logic or the order behind those kinds of actions. I just don't understand why people would be like that.
That's a big life lesson- a lot of the time, things happen and people do things that you or I just don't understand. For every time that I can see where God's going with this or how life fits together, there's another where I haven't a clue. Your proportions of the first to the second may vary, but that's part of being human. We don't always know, and that's okay.
Don't stop trying to understand, but don't twist yourself into something you're not to do it. You'll reach your limit eventually. At that point, it's okay to let go and let God take care of it.
It's like that prayer- I've heard people refer to it as "The Alcoholic's Prayer" because AA uses it. The one that goes, "Lord, give me the courage to change the things I can, the serenity to accept what I can't, and the wisdom to know the difference." So much of life is that third part- knowing the difference.
A lot of things happen that I don't understand. I accept that people act that way, and even know that this or that thing is fairly common. Sometimes, I can vaguely perceive the logic or the order behind those kinds of actions. I just don't understand why people would be like that.
That's a big life lesson- a lot of the time, things happen and people do things that you or I just don't understand. For every time that I can see where God's going with this or how life fits together, there's another where I haven't a clue. Your proportions of the first to the second may vary, but that's part of being human. We don't always know, and that's okay.
Don't stop trying to understand, but don't twist yourself into something you're not to do it. You'll reach your limit eventually. At that point, it's okay to let go and let God take care of it.
It's like that prayer- I've heard people refer to it as "The Alcoholic's Prayer" because AA uses it. The one that goes, "Lord, give me the courage to change the things I can, the serenity to accept what I can't, and the wisdom to know the difference." So much of life is that third part- knowing the difference.
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Date: 2006-05-23 12:25 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-05-23 09:45 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-05-23 01:15 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-05-23 09:07 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-05-23 10:27 pm (UTC)God doesn't laugh at us - mock us ...
Date: 2006-05-23 11:58 am (UTC)God's actions are beyond our actions
God's motivation is beyond our motivation
.... and that's ... oh - kay.
Job didn't abandon his faith in his suffering
... "In all this Job did NOT sin by charging God with wrong doing."
God didn't laugh at Job's suffering ... even though He, God Himself, specifically allowed it.
God gave Job perhaps the most impressive compliment ever when He said to Satan:
"Have you considered my servant, Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil. And he still maintains his integrity; though you [Satan] incited Me against him to ruin him _without any reason_." ... WITHOUT ANY REASON!!! [IT WASN'T DUE TO ANYTHING THAT JOB HAD DONE]
Re: God doesn't laugh at us - mock us ...
Date: 2006-05-23 01:15 pm (UTC)How very loving.
Re: God doesn't laugh at us - mock us ...
Date: 2006-05-23 03:38 pm (UTC)He was saying that nothing that _Job did_ was the reason ...
God has reasons well beyond our understanding - having nothing to do with us personally. In Job's case, he was singled out by God BECAUSE he was such a good man - faithful and obedient to God.
On an airplane one time, my seat mate (a Jewish woman) complained to me that she HATED the book of Job (an OLD Testament book) - and especially that all of Job's ten children and their families were killed in the beginning of the story - they had all been together celebrating at a family gathering and a "mighty wind swept in from the desert" ... it struck the four corners of the house and it collapsed on them killing ALL.
Since God knows everything and is all powerful, we can be assured that this was not an "accident" that God was not already aware of ...
My comment to her was that if this was part of God's permissive will, then He (God) had reasons - and plans. I shared that my understanding of the OT is that when a person who loves God and is obedient to Him dies - they immediately go to the Bosom of Abraham - a phrase meaning going to be with God - i.e., in heaven.
So my suggestion to her was that in this particular plan, all these children MAY have gone directly to heaven ... and wouldn't wish to come back, even if they could.
On the other hand, if all these children were NOT faithful to God, then because He is also perfectly Just, they got the consequence they chose.
When things (events, circumstanes) don't SEEM to make sense in my life - I trust that I just don't have a big enough picture. And since I am not in charge, I don't have to expend any effort second-guessing what God is doing. This has been an amazing "freeing" of my attitude.
Re: God doesn't laugh at us - mock us ...
Date: 2006-05-23 07:51 pm (UTC)