What I've written isn't anything new, revolutionary or profound, it's only a series of thoughts that I've had and some of the conclusions I've been working through regarding God and the world. I could be completely wrong, you're entitled to disagree or disregard my thoughts, you're within your right. Now to be clear, when I refer to God I mean whatever entity you serve, he's all the same to me.
Now...here goes.
I don't subscribe to coincidence. The philosophy of "Things happen" never sat well with me. Now although I believe God exist, religion isn't the reason I feel this way about so-called random occurrences, science is. The beauty of science is the reason I think that certain things on this earth are fated. Little things like the earth being exact distance away from the sun in order for it to form all life is pretty remarkable. If that's a coincidence, it's a pretty big one. Who knows?
Most religious people believe that there is a high level of predestined occurrences that dictate the course of their lives. Everything that happens is the Lord's will. Not to say that they're wrong but if everything was left up to fate, prayer would be rendered useless, because your fate has already been decided. Now maybe it's not so black and white. Maybe there are many fates, and depending on your choices they can lead you to a particular destination. That's not a bad thing, but then the religious person would then ask where does God fit in?
I believe that God is a constant.
He's involved with every second of every day, but he does not dictate the course of your life. He provides the signs for you to read on your journey to your destination, wherever it may be. You choose your path.
If you pay attention, there are signs in nearly every decision that you make. It may seem strange but I don't think being a good person translates into having a good life. Your blessings have nothing to do with how good you are as a person, if they were, why are must Christians poor or sickly? Why are innocent kids killed around the world everyday? (Lord's will, right?). Blessing are favor from God and I won't even try to speculate as to how that works but I don't think you can earn salvation or "Holy" points. And If you're a good person because you want to get into heaven then you'll never get there. All of your deeds are rooted in selfishness. I'm of the opinion that God wants you to be good because it's just the right way to be.
We make it complex because we're naturally selfish and have the desire to be special. Look at how many religions claim to be the right religion but the main goal is simply be peaceful and love one another. So if your religion doesn't interfere with mine, why does it matter who's right or wrong? Is that the Lord's will too?
Sorry for going off on a tangent, back to the fate, choice God and signs.
We're all human, flawed. We make constantly poor decisions. Lord knows, I've made mine. In the end, God looks out for EVERYBODY, even the people we view as evil.
I could be wrong, but I'm of the mindset God really just wants us to take care of each other, give Him thanks and read the signs that he gives in order to help make your life easier. Unfortunately, it's not easy because many times, we fail to see the signs.
What are these signs that you speak of?
Think of this world as a giant road with construction detours, traffic, potholes and side streets. Those are things that you cannot control, forces that are unseen. You can't control circumstances, it's like the weather, the only thing that you can control are your choices. The signs guide you those choices.
When we are young, we drive so fast(immaturity, stubbornness, upbringing) we can't see all of the signs or even understand them. As we get older we learn a bit of discernment. Now... This may come as shock or sound blasphemous but you don't need God to see the signs Whuuuuuuut? *stops reading*
As you get older, you get smarter, it just happens. The thing about getting older is that you form habits, now some of the signs you've read will only be the signs you're accustomed to seeing, because of your habit. You may pick up a new series of signs and you think that's all you need and got it all figured out, but you're still not getting to where you wanna be(kinda like driving in circles right?) See the thing is, you need God to know how to read ALL of the signs. You need God increase discernment, that's why you pray. Your anger, sadness, pride, self esteem, fear, lack of perspective, all of those things can hinder you from reading God's signs. And with all that going on within yourself, you still have outside forces.
As I said before have no control over the potholes, traffic or weather ahead, but you can pray for the ability to see the pothole when it comes, the instincts to brake quickly and the patience to handle the traffic. You pray that your car can handle the potholes when your car hits a couple. You pray that you're on the right road.
When you get older and your discernment improves, we can choose to ignore some of the signs even when they're blatant. Call it confident, call it conceit, call it stupidity. Either way, God is still there. He will continue to guide, protect, fix and teach you. All four of those things can come in the form positive or negative moments in your life, just know that you can learn from all of them as you move forward.
While you're on life's road, you can see a sign or hit some traffic which will make you take an exit and use the back streets, thinking it may be easier, but you may end up catching a flat tire. Guess who is your spare tire or the tire shop nearby? (Hint: it starts with a G) There may be a lesson in all of that. Sometimes it's better to ride on the highway regardless of the traffic. Sometimes that flat you caught prevented you from the accident further ahead. Depending on your situation, sometimes He provided that shortcut to get you back on the street that you needed to be on. Think about that time when you did something really messed up and when you look back you saw all the signs telling you not to do it, but you ignored it. Part of that is your common sense, the other part is him.
We all want better for ourselves, God wants the same. There are times that we want something so much that we end up ignoring what the signs are telling you. You may want a new job so bad that you'll end up taking the first job that comes along. You may up doing the same thing in regards to a companion. All the signs that tell you that it's not a fit, you end up ignoring. That doesn't mean you won't get to your destination, it may mean it'll take longer, or you may encounter things you didn't have to had you stayed on course. In the end, what's destined for you cannot be taken from you, God made it so, but you can decide to pick or settle on what you think is best. You can give up and head somewhere else. You'll mess around and live you're whole life not driving on the road that would've made you truly happy. A dream deferred and all that...But in the end, it's all on you.
Here's my final thought: You always have a choice and your God will always see you through the results of those choices. There's something out there, it could be God or a some unknown force, but there's something. Look at how each choice has affected your life...And look at how you're still standing strong through it all...That's no coincidence. That's God.
Fate...coincidence...I'm like Sway, I don't have the answers. I just try to read the signs and make sure that I have my GPS sure on the closest tire shop in my area because I'm prone to taking a detour or two.
No comments:
Post a Comment