I wrote earlier this week about God’s logic of cause and effect. What we do causes certain effects upon us. Good or bad.
It’s inevitable. If we continue to pursue an unhealthy lifestyle, we will become ill. If we meditate and pray daily, our outlook on life will improve.
But, let’s admit it, we humans also turn this cause and effect thinking around. We think, if we pray to God, we expect an effect. I want this, and I want it now. OK, God, I’m waiting not-so-patiently for your granting of my wish.
I call this “vending-machine God”. Put in your payment (prayer) and receive your little bag or cup of goodies.
But, when God created the universe and everything in it, he also created some laws to keep it going. Cause and effect is one.
Humans have been trying to buy God’s favor forever. Sacrifices, magic, religions. None worked.
We might as well turn our attention to living with God. We know the disciplines and the attitudes. We just have to practice them. And as Merton said in the passage I quoted yesterday, patience will come. We will see into our motivations. And we will find ourselves part of God and letting God do for us what he will.
When I began meditating for this brief post, I began with how frustrated we all are waiting for this SARS-CoV-2 virus to run its course and go away. We can’t see it; we can’t hear it; we don’t always see the effects. Now, more than ever, we need to live with cause-and-effect and reside in God’s kingdom. That’s the place where we serve others instead of demanding to be served.
Faith Venture 
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