Considering

If there was a little more considering and a little less reaction there could be planning in a way that helps me to listen to God and His Wisdom a little more and rely on myself and my stupidity a bit less.

God the Father (National Gallery of Art)

The other day, one of my children made a mistake.  They did not think things through, and make a decision to do the wrong thing, rather they reacted in an environment that was unfamiliar to the and unusual and in that reaction, they were able to – to put things simply – just muck things up in an extraordinary way.

At first, I was quite upset by the particular decision that they made.  But this soon changed.  After all, there is only so much time that a person can spend in an emotional state before they decide to wake up and become rational and reasonable and capable of making some sort of sense out of all the nonsense.

The first thing that I did was sit down and discuss the situation with that child, which is really just code for asking them what happened and then listening with the intention to understand what they were thinking or wanting to do to make a change to improve the situation.

One of the consequences of the mistake that my child made was that there was a consequence and punishment.  As such, that child had to complete their punishment and then had to make a decision about how to change things for the future.

I have been thinking about how similar this human interaction really is compared with the eternal interactions with God.

You see, I make mistakes all the time – some of these are intentional and others are just simple mistakes where if I had stopped to think about things differently, or been better prepared, perhaps I would not have made this mistake at all.

Unlike when I needed to talk to my son, God does not need to have a conversation with me to understand my motives and interior thoughts.  Instead, God – who knows all things – understands everything that I have done and can make a decision about what my fair and just punishment should be.  And there is some confidence in that, because I have nothing to fear because God knows all things and is going to look after everything for me.

And this can mean that when I make mistakes – as I am bound to do, God is there to help me in the best possible way considering my situation.  And in those instances, He is able to direct me appropriately.  And I have been thinking about that today as I have been thinking about my child and the mistake that they made.  And it occurs to me that if there was a little more considering and a little less reaction there could be planning in a way that helps me to listen to God and His Wisdom a little more and rely on myself and my stupidity a bit less.

And I have been thinking about this today, considering, while I think about all the mistakes that I have ever made that have displeased my Beloved Lord…

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