Our title / theme focuses on a ‘personal responsibility’ issue. Can you fill in the missing word (seven letters) that ‘fits’ (both gaps)? The ‘solution’ is simple, but none of us like to hear it or ponder its implications. Anyway, here is the ‘bad news’ / ‘good news’: ‘IF YOU HAVE A PROBLEM YOU ARE THE PROBLEM’.
This topic was ‘highlighted’ in the preceding article: ‘Blame V Bless’. Its ‘truth-roots-lie’ in our ‘in-famous’ (Booklet / eBook) context quote: ‘If we weren’t dis-functional we wouldn’t be normal’. In essence: we are ‘blind / blinded’ until we are given new ‘sight / insight’.
In the ‘normality’ of life (where every person is ‘normal’ until you get to know them) we tend to live life in a kind of ‘human limbo land’ (half asleep / half awake) & we struggle (as best we can) to determine: what is ‘fact or fiction’ / what is ‘true or false’. Hence, this “shocking” proposition. Let’s face it: if you have a ‘problem’: you are ‘caught up in’ some ‘trouble / difficulty / complication’ that you perceive as ‘indeterminate’ (in terms of your personal ‘capacity / capability’ to resolve same).
The question arises: is there a “secure base” out there? “Yes”, there is, & even better, there is a (glorious) “assured blessed communion” offered in the Bible: see: “Beatitudes” i.e.‘how to be attitudes’ (Matthew 5:3-10): see: “Abiding in Christ” (John 15:1-8): see: “Love & Joy Perfected” (John 15:9-17). In all this, our ‘ABC” self (Attitude Behaviour Character) stands on the “rock” of ‘Affirmation / Blessedness / Connectivity’ or on the “sand” of ‘Accusation / Blame / Condemnation’.
Ok, then! What is the ‘big’ picture? It is this: God has made ‘PRO’VISION ::: His Vision is ‘Perfect Relational Order’ ::: He has created ‘Creation / Creatures’ to “exist” ::: as Jesus ‘PRO’CLAIMED (Claimed ‘Perfect Relational Order’) in ‘The Our Father’ ::: “THY” Name / “THY” Kingdom / “THY” Will ::: “THY” as ‘Trinity’s Holy Yes’. When God created Creation He made a “home” for Creatures & when He created Creatures He intended a “home” for Himself ::: God as ‘Father’: we as ‘children’. In the ‘drama of life’ we are to “ask / seek / knock” in a “child-like” manner (Mark 10:15 / Matthew 18:3 / 19:14) ::: “Give us / Forgive us / Lead & Deliver us”, again, as per ‘The Our Father’. In this way: ‘The Our Father’ makes manifest the ‘mode of being’ of Jesus the Christ, as model for man’s ‘mode of being’ (also).
However, in the ‘manifestation’ of man & God, we ‘see’ the conundrum at the ‘heart’ of humanity’s social / spiritual ‘dis-connect’. Man has a point of view: ‘playing god’ & God has a viewpoint ‘Being God’. In the context of ‘everyday life’ we witness the ‘fall-out’ from the “Fall” (i.e. mankind’s ‘separation’ from God). As desirous ‘children / teenagers / adults’ we aspire to ‘run our lives’ with all the ‘energy / power / vitality’ we can muster, ‘un-aware’ that ‘every breath we take’ is a gift from God. It takes a lot of hard lessons to ‘wake-up’ to the reality that: ‘everything everywhere is already alright’ & that: we are (merely) “vessels made of clay”.
So, the nature of all mankind’s ‘problem’ is (basically) “ignorance” (meaning: “to ignore Truth”). At issue is a conflict of wills ::: human & divine ::: ‘human will’ refusing to accept ‘divine will’. At ‘root’ is mankind’s latent ‘pride’. The history of ‘War & Peace’ shows: ‘self’ never changes ‘self’ until ‘small self’ (human) gives way (i.e. ‘dies’) to ‘greater Self’ (divine). In summation: our ‘existential crisis’ (i.e. ‘dis-functionality’) – ‘to be confused is to refuse to fuse wills’ – points clearly towards the “cross”: (Matthew 10:38 / 16:24): (Mark 8:34): (Luke 9:23 / 14:27).
The ‘human’ story is – as Jesus would have hinted at, so often – we set out to “change the world” & – after a lot of ‘wear & tear’ & little progress – we ‘re-set’ a less ambitious target to “change (only) the people we meet everyday” – &, again, after much ‘licking of wounds’ & ‘crying of eyes’ – we ‘wise-up’ to reality (i.e. God is in charge / He is running the show: ‘in heaven / on earth’) & with great relief we accept God’s grace to “change ourselves”.
The Good News (as per recent article) Is: Every Problem is an Opportunity for “YOU” & “GOD” (to iron out ‘confusion’). If we “apply” ourselves, wisely, we gain ‘MERIT’: which might be considered as: ‘ME’ (human person) Reciprocating ‘IT’ (‘Incarnation Trinity’). So, let us “Thank God” for the abundance of His (Trinitarian) ‘wonders & surprises’ that keep us on the “straight & narrow” path of life.
Addendum (to reflect on): Our subject matter: ‘PRO’BLEM : might be understood as: ‘Perfect Relational Order’ with Blem’ish (i.e. with ‘im-perfection’).