Re: God
Submitted by Ford Prefect on November 03 2000 14:01:21
In reply to Re: God submitted by Dirk Gently on November 02 2000 23:13:20
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Everything good we have (including our next breath) is a gift from God. Many of his gifts we see as good but somehow get the notion that we're deserving or even entitled to. This unfortunately can kill off gratitude and leave us with a sense of being denied what we pervceive as our just due. Some of our gifts may be so well-branded by others as curses that we see them that way ourselves.....again leading to a sense of having been cheated. Sometimes our egos present us with things we think ought to be good but are, in fact, empty and unfulfilling. Again, attainment of these and the subsequent disappointment leads even further toward despair. I think we need to recognize the gifts we receive as good and I think our ability to love boys is among these gifts. We need to learn to use them to bring God's love to others and be grateful for them. We need to see the good that continually comes our way, even if it's sometimes difficult to recognize. But, we also need to go beyond utilizing these gifts and being grateful for them. We need to see them as manifestations of God's love, not as ends in themselves. We need to be willing to give them up if necessary since we've seen how faithful God is to his promises and to his own nature. Then we become like Abraham, trusting in God so much as to give up what we know to be the greatest gift we've ever received. Some of us may never be called upon to make this sacrifice until the hour of our deaths when we'll be asked to give up everything we've ever been given and rely solely on God's mercy and goodness. Others of us may be called upon to give up things slowly as we age. It frightens me to think there may come a time when, due to old age, I might actually lose all contact with boys. I think, "How could I live without it?" But I pray, should this come to pass, I'd be able to think instead, "How could I live without God?" I pray that I'd be grateful for all the good gifts I'd been given and that I could trust in God to shelter me beyond my wants and beyond my fears though death and into life. ---Ford |
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