Stray Bolts

Storms rock. There's the sunshine afterward to look forward to.

Saturday, January 31, 2009

The Way God Works

"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control." ~ Galatians 5:22-23, The Holy Bible

A common prayer we make, whether as a Christian to our God, or a Muslim to Allah, or as a practitioner of any religion to the relevant divinities, is for us to receive the gifts mentioned above.

But do we really expect to be changed overnight? Maybe we say we don't, and are sincere in saying this even, but subconsciously, it is indeed what we expect. But like Morgan Freeman has said in 'Evan Almighty', which I expand on here, God doesn't work like that.

When you ask God for love, does He fill you with warm fuzzy feelings, or provide people in your life to love?
When you ask God for joy, does He snap His fingers to turn your frown upside down, or remind you to count your blessings?
When you ask God for peace, does He take all your problems away, or just reassure you of His presence and constant support?
When you ask God for patience, does He just directly increase your patience levels, or does He place more and more irritating people in your life so you can learn to be patient?
When you ask God for kindness and goodness, does He alter your brain just like that, or provide you with instructions on how to be kind and good so you can decide to or not?
When you ask God for faithfulness, does He shut down all thoughts of betrayal, or does He provide you with opportunities to be faithful?
When you ask God for gentleness, does He soften you, or does He place abrasive people in your life to soften to?
When you ask God for self-control, does He bolster your control, or does He put your temper to the test?

God places opportunities. Whether we make use of them to improve ourselves is our prerogative. Make the right choice today.