I have been pondering DJ's comments on Galahad. Come to think of it, Galahad's situation does result from a lot of unmerited divine favor. My difficulty in accepting him parallels my difficulty in swallowing the inequalities that come from God's grace in real life. That's why I tend to feel envious when it seems like God has given someone else a free ride, and guilty when others don't seem to have it as well as I do. (Not just monetarily, but in all sorts of areas.)
As DOB points out, deep down, I'm a liberal. I want things to be fair. Shouldn't we all get the same? Or, at least, shouldn't we all get only exactly what we deserve? (Don't answer that.) Or if God is handing out undeserved things, shouldn't we all get the same size of ice cream cone?
But we don't. What keeps me from going around redistributing the ice cream is two realizations: one, that human efforts cannot even things out, and will create even greater inequalities from trying; two, that even if I don't understand God's purposes in his unequal distribution of his blessings, He does have them.
Though God's purposes are higher than my comprehension, perhaps I can guess at some of them. If we all received equal blessings at the hand of God, there would be no occasion for compassion or generosity. No one would get the character that comes when you start out behind and have to catch up. There would be no stories worth telling.
So the next time Sir Galahad rides through town with his shield blazing in the sunlight, I promise to swallow my pride and cheer with the best of them.
1 comment:
It's a little unsettling, but strangely reassuring, that we have an incomprehensible God, isn't it? -- SJ
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