I Believe in You...
Have you ever prayed for someone and you wanted to do more for them ? You knew on the toughest level of their lives
that they have to do it themselves. It is the way I learn and grow, but I want to do something that stops their pain. yeah , I know, it's called rescuing. Or perhaps it really means, learn to trust God.
When my father was talking to me about the war, he was always quick to point out that there were no atheists in fox holes.
I replied cynically at the time about the swagger of some soldiers or the anger of others. My father just laughed; as a man laughs at a younger man who has it all figured out . He replied that the whoring, 48 hour drunken binges, and fighting came from a tremendous desire to feel alive and even the man who was angry with God in wartime had a relationship with him. I asked him about the things he would say to these desperate young men . He told me that when you live " cheek by jowl " (old school for "close" ) with other men, your words wil be played out in the faith you show in them. I was sure he was wrong. Why show faith in people when they are living in a downward spiral ? Wasn't that advocacy of their lives ? Then my dad looked at me and said, " Mark, sometimes you're an ass, God believes in you when you don't deserve it, That's the very least you can do for other people." I need be reminded of those words ( all of them ) when I am tempted to step in for other people instead of simply showing faith by believing in them.
Have you ever prayed for someone and you wanted to do more for them ? You knew on the toughest level of their lives
that they have to do it themselves. It is the way I learn and grow, but I want to do something that stops their pain. yeah , I know, it's called rescuing. Or perhaps it really means, learn to trust God.
When my father was talking to me about the war, he was always quick to point out that there were no atheists in fox holes.
I replied cynically at the time about the swagger of some soldiers or the anger of others. My father just laughed; as a man laughs at a younger man who has it all figured out . He replied that the whoring, 48 hour drunken binges, and fighting came from a tremendous desire to feel alive and even the man who was angry with God in wartime had a relationship with him. I asked him about the things he would say to these desperate young men . He told me that when you live " cheek by jowl " (old school for "close" ) with other men, your words wil be played out in the faith you show in them. I was sure he was wrong. Why show faith in people when they are living in a downward spiral ? Wasn't that advocacy of their lives ? Then my dad looked at me and said, " Mark, sometimes you're an ass, God believes in you when you don't deserve it, That's the very least you can do for other people." I need be reminded of those words ( all of them ) when I am tempted to step in for other people instead of simply showing faith by believing in them.
posted by mark at 9:31 PM
6 Comments:
holy crap
I hear what you are saying Mark.
I get it too.
I agree you can be an ass but so can we all. Preach the word and use words if necessary from my mother.
Wow. And it's so funny because the more we do for people the more we mess things up. We want them to "understand" and just think that if we phrase things the right way, articulate our thoughts in exactly the manner that they'll magically catch on and the whole mess'll be cleared up.
What's even funnier is that the very best thing to do for people is pray, and we aproach it as kind of first step . . .
Someone told me that it's easy giving control of your life over to God, the hard part is trusting Him with the lives of those you love.
Meh. I'm 19. I recycle advice and I dunno if I'm the kind of person that it's best taken from ^_^. I'm not exactly the shining example of functionality. I confess, I felt like such a fraud talking to you. But the amazing thing is none of us deserve anything and yet we are still taken, still loved, and get our gentle (and not so gentle!) "slaps across the face" ad nauseum.
Sorry for the novel ;)
Amanda.
Amanada, I don't think it matters how old you are or where you get your advice from. It needs to come from somewhere. And somewhere along the lines you may have experience with something that will help others out. I don't know if that makes sense. But I get what I am trying to say. I hope others do too.
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