Hi Folks
Over this past summer, we changed our telephone and internet carrier to a local company who could also save us a considerable amount of money.
The company we jilted (or at least that seems to be how they see it) has sent lovely cards telling me how much they miss me. We have also been getting phone calls.
I received another one today. As soon as the caller got to "We have a special offer..." I cut him off and told him I was not interested. He asked me why.
I told him that if they valued my patronage so much, they should have given me these fabulous offers while I was still their customer. He actually admitted I had a point. No kidding.
It is not like that with God.
God loves all His creation. He loves us more than we can imagine. We are made, after all, in His image and likeness. He also loves us enough to let us go, if that is what we choose. Look what happened to the Angels who proclaimed that they would not serve. They went to Hell.
Jesus shows us this in the Gospel of John. When He proclaimed that it was necessary to eat His flesh and drink His blood, many of his followers said that He was speaking harshly and that they would no longer follow Him. Jesus let them go.
We can also be confident that if we wish to repent, while we are alive, and come back to God, He will take us back. We see this expressed in the Parable of the Prodigal Son in the Gospel of Luke.
In the latter case, we are told that a party was held to celebrate the return of the lost son. Would this actually make up for what is lost during our time without God's grace?
I am fairly certain that God longs for us, if we choose to be away from him. Parents long for children. The woman who loses the gold coin, again in the Gospel of Luke, turns the house upside down until she finds it. So does the shepherd search for the lost sheep.
God will not usually hound us though. Or perhaps He IS hounding us...but sin clouds our perceptions and we do not hear. Hmmm.
I told the telephone company to leave us alone. I cannot imagine that I would want to do that to God...ever. But if I did, I think He would honour my bad choice and leave me to my own devices.
Fortunately, when I changed phone companies, most of the devices stayed exactly the same.
God Bless
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4 comments:
Hello!
I really enjoyed this post, but I must beg to differ. While God will never impose Himself upon us, He will never made us all. He has made us for Himself, and we are restless without Him; something deep inside of us calls out for Him, no matter what, and that something inside us, Augustine says, is Him.
Have you ever read Francis Thompson's poem, "The Hound of Heaven"? Beautiful. Here's a link (and a shameless plug):
http://withouthavingseen.blogspot.com/2009/09/hound-of-heaven.html
Anyway, I especially enjoy the style and sensitivity of your writing.
Ryan
Hi Ryan
A sentence which I think was pivotal to your comment was unclear. You wrote:
"While God will never impose Himself upon us, He will never made us all."
Could you please clarify that one?
From what I do gather from your comment, I don't think we disagree too much. God longs for us, and as you say, we long for God.
But I truly believe we can ignore, stifle, disguise or cover up the longing we have. Is that not why unbridled "addictions" to things that are supposed to fulfill us (sex, food, materialism) are so prevalent?
I thank you for finally getting me to read "The Hound of Heaven". I've certainly heard of it, but have not read it. I must re-read it when I have more time.
I also plan to peruse your blog. It looks very good!
I also thank you for your compliments on my writing. I hope this blog practice for something a little more permanent. I appreciate criticism that helps me clarify what I"m doing! The blogosphere can seem rather lonely!
Lol, JP, what I meant when I wrote "While God will never impose Himself upon us, He will never made us all," is as much your guess as mine!
I think I may have meant, "... He will never abandon us," or something like that.
I am going to blame it on being past my bedtime. I think we are in agreement, except in manner of expression, perhaps. You certainly have a point that the weeds of this world can smother the growth of the kingdom in our heart.
I found your blog because of your post on InsideCatholic. I try to seek out foreign perspectives on American and world affairs - our media is so boxed in that it's hard to get a balanced view, even when comparing news agencies from supposedly different ideologies. Especially intriguing to me are the situations of Catholics in the UK (England, especially), Canada, and also in places where we are a small minority like India or China.
Hi Ryan
We Catholics in Canada are nearly double, percentage-wise, to you in the States.
I think because of our relatively easy history here, we tend to be very apathetic. In the US it seems to me (could be wishful thinking, I suppose) that adversity has made you a bit more on the ball.
We spent three months in Central Europe a few years back. Listening to the news was a very different experience, as the US was seldom mentioned in any context. Of course, neither was Canada!
It was like being on another planet (which was exacerbated by so few people where we were speaking English!).
I'd invite you to view that blog (Balkan Reflections) too, but I messed up the code somehow and most posts are no longer readable...although I can still view them. I should see if I've picked up enough learnin' along the way to fix that up.
Anyway, if you need a Canadian perspective, feel free to contact me anytime!
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