dailydatewithgod

One of my favorite explanations of God is “approves a million false starts”.  I understand that to mean that God is there when we are trying things out and striving to do good and mess it up.  Not only does He not condemn us for messing it up but acknowledges us for trying.  As someone who often gets frustrated when I don’t do it perfectly the first time, this is yet another recognition that God does not think the way that I think.  If I look to the scriptures I see so much evidence of this understanding of God. The people of God as described in the Hebrew and Christian scriptures are very fallible people.  They mess up and do bad things and yet God does not abandon them.  There is David, the greatest King of Israel who wrote the Psalms.  He also raped a married woman and when he found out that she was pregnant with his child, sent her husband to the front of line of the war where he was killed. He is still considered the greatest King of Israel and Jesus draws his lineage from him through Mary. St. Paul (Saul of Tarsus) one of the greatest evangelists, was a Jew who spent his time murdering Christians.  St. Peter (the first pope and appointed leader of the church by Jesus) denied even knowing Jesus and abandoned him during the time when he needed his friend the most. And those are just a few examples.  Each of these people did what they thought was best at the time.  It wasn’t until they earnestly broke down and recognized their need for God that their lives were transformed.  God took the messiness and the imperfections of their decisions and the actions and used it for the greater good. Practice refers to an actual application versus a theory.  Practicing my faith means getting into action.  Taking my understanding, my belief about the mercy of God, and acting on that.  I will not do it perfectly. But I can practice love, kindness, patience, tolerance, empathy, and justice.  In my  application of my belief I begin to live out the life that God has called me to in big and small ways.  As I travel the road, I will make mistakes but I can rely on a Creator who approves of a million false starts and trust that whatever happens, it will turn towards the good. Most importantly I may not see or understand how.  It is my job to show up, ask God to give me the courage to do His will and just do it.  Do you have an area of your life the you are not taking action?  Maybe out of fear of imperfection?  God does not abandon us the way that we abandon us.  Take a chance today that God is greater than you.  Make it a great one!  Peace~Colleen

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