parallels

parallels. as i sit and think and feel and judge i realize that all of the things i see that need correcting also apply to myself. reverse projection. mirror reflection. misplaced truth. this could get long.

i invited my little sister to go shopping with me so i could buy something for her new baby girl. she agreed to come. i expected her to come. she didn't come. i thought first of all, 'how rude,' then, 'she missed out,' then 'some people make it really hard to do something nice for them.' somewhere in my daily musings and beings God spoke to me. something along the lines of 'now you see how it feels,' or 'yes, i know, i get that all the time.' how many gestures of offering does God have to make before we take time out of our busy day to accept them? how many, many times have we missed out on a blessing much better than a shopping trip because we went our own way, either purposefully or by allowing ourselves to be distracted? God has great things for us; we just have to be available.

another parallel: i get exasperated with one of my daughters because she is at that exasperating age. her modus operandi is 'question all authority.' she has a fundamental need for reason and has difficulty accepting things just on faith in authority or tradition, whether it be her parents, school, society, etc. my stance as a parent is you obey, then you may question. i expect to be given that respect simply because of my role as mother. uh oh. how does that correlate with my own relationship with God? do we have absolute faith in Him? do we obey Him because he is God or are we weak in faith and pick and choose the commandments we will follow? are we as guilty of selective hearing as our children? i'm beginning to suspect that being a true child of God entails more of an all or nothing approach. we need to believe in His authority, believe in His love for us and believe that what He wants is truly best for us, even if we as willful children want to go our own way.

parallel 3: a friend asked me for prayers. there is a need in her household for peace, love and understanding. i have been praying quite a bit for their situation. today as i sat on my front porch i was gently reminded that i needed to pray for them. as i prayed for God to cover their home in peace, love and understanding i realized that this is a universal prayer that would benefit all of us. we all need peace, love and understanding.