Reason… Ever hear ‘everything happens for a reason’?….
Well, yes it does. Everything that happens is because of something. Mostly, it’s because of either my choice or someone else’s.
We are all in this big ole’ pool of life together. The wind stirs the surface of the water as storms of varying degrees and varieties come and go. I don’t splash much in the pool…but those around me may splash quite a bit, and when they do…it often gets on me.
Everything does happen for a reason…but it’s not because God ordained every single thing to be so. Remember that thing called ‘free will’? He has given us that, and it is the one limitation He has placed on Himself. He will not intervene and over rule my choice. Or yours.
So….when I decide to make some big splashes in the pool, go out into water over my head…sometimes right into a coming storm…He lets me. Oh, He reminds me of the danger, and if I am sensitive to His Spirit, I hear…and if I’m trusting Him to know best, I listen and heed the warnings.
Often though, I think I’m strong and smart enough to outwit the storm and keep myself afloat in that deep water, so off I go, plunging right in, oblivious to the rough waters that lay in wait….some of it the results of somebody else’s ideas about how to play in the pool.
If I’d just listened…I’d have avoided the splashes of somebody else’s idea of how to manipulate in the water of the pool. Instead, I find myself soaked, sputtering and gasping for breath….far away from shore and way too deep.
And remembering that He told me not to go there.
Yes, everything happens for a reason. And thank God that “all things work together for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose.” (Romans 8:28)
Even when I’ve chosen poorly. Even when I went out too deep. Even when I splashed too much. Even when I got too close to someone else’s splashing.
( Thanks to “The Shack” for the imagery of life’s pool )
