Monday, April 19, 2010

More sunrises than cyclones

"Sunrise Over Diamond Head" by Jules Tavernier

I think, despite what I consider to have been an excellent and life-giving early religious formation, that I have also fallen prey at times to the notion that God's will is likely to be something distasteful or painful for me. I well remember when it dawned on me in prayer that the God in whom I truly believe is a God who profoundly desires my well-being. And so I particularly appreciated the final sentence in the following quotation:

It seems to be a general belief that the will of God is to make things distasteful for us, like taking bad-tasting medicine when we are sick, or going to the dentist. Somebody needs to tell us that the sunrise is also God’s will. There is the time of harvest, the harvest which will provide food and clothes for us, without which life could not be sustained on earth. God ordered the seasons—they are his will. In fact, the good things in life far outweigh the bad. There are more sunrises than cyclones.

- Charles L. Allen

3 comments:

  1. Thank you, Ellie. Sometimes when life seems to be hammering away it is easy to forget that final sentence.
    Carolyn L.

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  3. Yes, Carolyn. I thought it was a truly memorable sentence as well.

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