Consequences

God does not just act for the good of the whole population or in a general sense.  But rather, God does everything for the Good of my individual soul. 

African Madonna (Unknown)

I listen to lots of podcasts and talks and read lots of things about how to raise children.  Perhaps it is because I lack the confidence of my mother’s generation.  My mother seemed to always understand intuitively what children needed and how they should be treated.  I – on the other hand – have doubted myself every single step of the way.  And every poor attempt or bad behaviour of every one of my children has caused me to doubt myself even further.

And as I listen to or read all of these things, one thing is very apparent.  And that is, that children need boundaries.  They need a set of rules to push against and explore.  One cannot – for example – leave a toddler to patrol a busy road without first explaining that the toddler must not stray onto the street and then physically standing near the toddler to make sure that they do not run out onto the road.  In other words, without the boundaries there would be terrible terrible consequences for the toddler and the parent would be devastated.  And in this way, we can understand that boundaries are not only important, but they are significant!  And the significance comes from the benefits that a boundary brings to us.

Another word for boundary is consequence.  And a consequence is a repercussion for something that I have said or done.  When I understand that my choices and actions have consequences, I can fully understand that there are reasons that things are brought to a head or drawn out – so to speak.

And just as I stopped my toddlers from running across the road and being injured, so too does God sometimes stop me from moving forward and pushing boundaries that are not for my GOOD.  And just as my toddler-children might have cried or thrashed around in my arms and even tried to outrun me so that they could reach the road, so too do I sometimes try to outrun God.  And that is significant.

You see, God does everything for my GOOD.  He does not just act for the good of the whole population or in a general sense.  But rather, God does everything for the Good of my individual soul.  He is working for MY Good, for ME – as though I am the only soul who was ever born.  And He does this in a manner that also allows Him to deliver the best possible outcome for every single other soul as well. 

And just as I had the power and strength to catch my wayward toddler as they were running around and I would gold onto my toddler despite all their thrashing around, so too does God hold on to me.  And He holds onto me despite all my thrashing around.

And just as I did this for love of my children, so too does God create these consequences for me.  And He protects me from them in a way that I can never understand.

And today I give thanks for that!

How awesome is my Lord and God!

For with prayer, I stand on Holy Ground where everything is clear. Here. At the Foot of the Cross.