A number of years ago, while driving home from a night class, I was having a “chat with God.” I was trying to understand the difference between His will and ours and how we are to know His will and why we have free will. Those were all pretty heavy questions.
The next morning, when I came into work, one of my colleagues was reading a passage from a daily inspirational book, which he did every day. I asked him to share with me what the inspirational passage was for my birthday, which was months prior. Here is what it said: “God is not willing to do everything and thus take away our free will and the share of glory which belongs to us.” (Machiavelli) Wow!
That particular daily inspiration went on to talk about the difference between willingness and willfulness. I’ve kept a copy of that page for all the se years, so I’d like to share a portion:
“Willingness is not to be confused with being willful. Willfulness can return us to our old habits of wanting everything our way and on our own terms. Willingness prepares us to accept responsibilities. It gives us courage to change our attitudes. It rids us of fears of living in an imperfect world.”
I was pretty shocked to receive answers to my questions so quickly. This is why it’s important to be receptive. We often totally miss messages of Grace. These messages come from so many different avenues, too. We are connected to Spirit all the time; however, it is our willfulness that keeps us from realizing that. We often get stuck in believing that we know all the answers and what’s best for us. That’s when we get stuck in our ego.
Isn’t it amazing, with all of God’s ability to impact everything, He is still willing to give us credit for making good choices and good decisions in our life – and He is also willing to stick by us when we make not-so-good choices and decisions. Amazing Grace!
