You may have heard me say this before, but it has bubbled up in my mind recently as I have tried to understand the idea that God makes everything happen for God’s reasons, inscrutable as they are. The idea from Romans 13, of course, is that our leaders are chosen – blessed – anointed – by God – so opposing them goes against God’s will. The problem, of course, is when the leaders people think are God’s chosen lose – what do you do with that? Another aspect of this fallacy is the idea that the people we marry are our destiny; that there is one person we are “meant” to be with. Please don’t misunderstand me – I am ecstatic every day that my wife and I are together – but what happens when that person you believe God planned for you to be with decides to leave your marriage? It is a difficult thing to reconcile. If God is in control of everything, God isn’t, to be honest, very good at this.
All of this leads me to an understanding of wholeness as a person. In the movie “Jerry Maguire”, Tom Cruise’s character tells Renee Zellweger’s character that she completes him. So many people buy this idea; I don’t. In fact, it may be part of our problem in relationships, this idea that we have one person who will make us whole. In God’s math, two become one. In God’s math, answers are not precise – they are fuzzy. Believing that my life will be perfect and problem-free if I can just find the other half to my incomplete life is a recipe for disaster. Nothing in God’s creation is perfect or flawless; in fact, the quality of God’s work in the Creation stories is, at best, very good. A perfect God doesn’t seem to be able to make anything that is perfect. That doesn’t mean that we aren’t very good; just not perfect.
This is one reason evolution makes so much sense to me, along with the Wesleyan idea that we are either improving or declining. Every day is an opportunity to do and be better – every day brings new chances to make the world a better place. If I screwed up yesterday, it doesn’t mean that my life is over – it means that I have today to make up for my mistakes. I have another chance to repent and fix things. Only God is perfect; the rest of it is in process. If we messed things up yesterday, today is our chance to make things right. If we lost the person we think was meant to be with us, there will be opportunities to make and grow new relatioships. God’s math leaves room for new chances, and giving up on God or life or others isn’t the answer. I hope today is better for each of us than yesterday was – go and be a blessing to the people you meet!
Prayer – Merciful God, You give us chances to be better every day – give us the courage to keep going. Amen.
Today’s art is “Hope” by Nelly Buckman.