GOD IS THE PERFECT RECYCLER

All of us are so liable to human error that unless we have some capacity to bear with the errors of others, we will not be able to maintain a lasting relationship with anybody.... - "Words to Live By," Eknath Easwaran, November 2

I was with a friend I love yesterday, and she was just irate over the petty carping and whining of others. The more she thought on it, the more irate she got...and the more she carped and whined about it. God loves me so much that he let me be satisfied with just making listening noises.

Why I believe that God loves me so much is not only that I could be satisfied with just making listening noises...it is that I saw me so clearly in her carps and whines in regard to another's carps and whines!

And just this morning, here comes Fr Richard Rohr in his "Daily Meditation," saying, "God's one-of-a-kind job description is that God actually uses our problems to lead us to the full solution."

I'm of a mind that God uses our problems as a mirror...whoever or whatever we're resisting at the moment stands before us as our mirror. Whatever we're seeing as wrong, petty, horrific, disgusting...we're doing it in the judging of it. It is cosmic and it is without fail. I've tried my best to prove this wrong and have failed consistently.

Some years ago, I almost quit a job because of a co-worker who disrespected me daily. (I disrespected him right back, "but he did it first.") One day, in a blinding flash of the obvious, I wrote a note to me that said, "I am seeing X as real. X is not real, X is me. I am seeing me, and I am resisting me. I cannot stop that, change that, make that in any way different. I can, however, now that I've realized it, take it into my consciousness and let it perk. God can and will perfect it." And God did. That co-worker and I parted that job sometime later as friends.

The rest of Fr Rohr's quote is worth noting: "God is the perfect Recycler, and in the economy of grace, nothing is wasted, not even our worst sins nor our most stupid mistakes. God does not punish our sins, but uses them to soften our hearts toward everything."

Thank You.