Parakalein

I recently read Daniel Pink’s book Drive and found it creative and compelling.  One of many thoughts it triggered in me is the thought that Adam and Eve we just human and as such modeled two human conditions that are polarizing and paralyzing.  The first is that when we get things easily without much discomfort we appreciate it less and reach for something more.  When Adam and Eve reached for the fruit it was a reach out of the easy street onto hard street as they knew there would be no more growth until they changed streets.  What is more is that God knew they needed to change streets so had made the change available thought the gift of freedom of choice.   Freedom of choice was not the problem it was the fear and longing that propelled them into despair and depression, into fear and fight, into longing and flight, and into shame and hiding.  The sin was not disobeying  the command it was disavowing themselves and disallowing the experience of a forgiving. serene and loving God.  It is the human condition to be autonomous and self-directed, oriented in purpose and capable of mastery.  God made us with a gene for autonomy, mastery and purpose that is equally about self and others.  Humanity embraces the lie that is about me not you, or that it is about you not me.  Divinity knows the balance and harmony of a system that values both not either or.  An “either or system” breeds competition without integrity, conflict without resolution, and conspiracy that negates compromise.  A “both and system” represents competition with integrity, collaboration with equity of value for all, and cooperation without compromising compassion or control.

When God created humanity with freedom of choice God knew that choice would reach for the stars then live with the consequences.  The price of freedom for God was the loss of control of what we do while retaining control of how God responds to us regardless of anything.  God remains full of courage, calmness, compassion, and creativity to take whatever we do and help us to grow in it, through it, and beyond it.  God is beyond and present in every moment with unaltered love, unthreatened presence, unflappable peace. God remains always purposeful, autonomous, and mastering the moment.  God invites us to be as God is not to be as God.

God is with you and me no matter what!