OUT OF SELF-WILL, INTO GOD'S WILL

Rabbi Harold Kushner explained in his foreword to 'Man’s Search for Meaning': Suffering in and of itself is meaningless; we give our suffering meaning by the way in which we respond to it. . . . Forces beyond your control can take away everything you possess except one thing, your freedom to choose how you will respond to the situation. You cannot control what happens to you in life, but you can always control what you will feel and do about what happens to you. -- Fr Richard Rohr, "Daily Meditation," October 15, 2018

That is now accepted as fact by searching people. Personally, though, I don't believe the whole story is told when he says you can always control what you will feel and do about what happens to you. No. No, we cannot always control what we feel about what happens to us. That's the entire point heading us toward a Higher Power...God. According to me.

I contend that to always try to be in control of what we feel is to preclude the need for a spiritual power...God...in our life. We expend our very self...spiritual, mental, physical...on the trying for control of a feeling. Or, more like, a projected feeling...fear of suffering.

It's akin to trying to change our mind by our own will power alone. No. We must needs go to God...to a power greater than our self...seeking not to change our mind from A to Z, which is just another self-determined objective, but to upgrade our thinking. To lift our thoughts up to whatever they need to be in love.

Here comes my golden rule to ease the way: Just try not to be as nasty as you want to be. That's doable. It also heads us in the right direction...away from self toward God, toward God's will, a.k.a., grace. It is in our hands, our mind, our control no longer.

Thank you.