Friday, January 15, 2010

On being mad at God

We all find it easy, too easy, to get mad. We get mad at a person who cuts in front of us in the grocery store, did it prevent us from getting groceries? We get mad when somebody's mouth is quicker than their brain, did it really harm us? You probably get the idea and can make your own list. Some are probably mad at me for a perceived idealistic attitude and outlook!
Since God is the "maker of all things" (going back 50 years to my Roman Catholic catechism) we find it very easy to get mad at God for anything bad. That's okay. It really is. God can handle and God understands it. Why? Because God did create us and really does understand us better than we do.
What's my point? My point is this: With God and anyone else, we know what happens when we get mad. It might feel good, but it never solves anything. What if we decided to spend twice as much time loving God and others as we do getting mad at them?
Okay, believe me, I know there are people we could never walk up and give them a hug. My family knows that we all have one person in mind right now of whom it would be impossible to give any sign of affection. I couldn't. But I can love God, which tells God I trust God and know God will take care of things. More importantly if I spend more time loving God and loving others, the world will change for the better.
Don't kid me, or yourself, love isn't all about touchy-feely-pie-in-the-sky stuff. Love takes all the touchy feely stuff, mixed with every other emotion we have, and surrounds it and permeates it with the best that love is. Love can, and does, take all the bad and lets it soak into the best, thus creating a larger dose of goodness in the world than was previously there!
"Yea, right!" some might say. Look around. Look at the tons of love pouring into Haiti right now. The amount of love pouring in way outnumbers the amount of pain. Our family recently experienced a horrible tragedy with the loss of our neice Sarah in a vehicle misuse incident. The amount of love that poured into the lives of her daughter, parents, brother and family, sister and family, very significant other (her man), and everyone was tremendous. The pain was and is severe, but the love has definitely been more abundant!
It really is that simple. As a certain athletic shoe company says: Just do it!