I think all of us can think of at least one time we struggled with following God's plan.
Personally, I have felt this many times over the years, but there is one specific time that really stands out when I was a teenager. I knew what I was supposed to do, but I didn't want to do it. And God showed up in a big way to gently lead me back to the right path.
It had a great impact on me in understanding the depth of how God cares for us.
As a mother, I see this with my own children. I watch them make what I think are “bad” decisions.
Why can't they just listen to me? Sometimes I feel it's like watching a car accident that's about to happen. I can see the bad outcome coming. I want to save them - “bend them” to my will (because I know better!).
But I can't! They have to make their mistakes and learn from the consequences.
My relationship with my children mimics our relationship with God.
So as frustrating as it is for me, I can only imagine how much harder it is for our Heavenly Father.
He **absolutely** knows what's best for us. He always knows what the correct decision or course of action is.
But ----> He gave us free will. The power to choose. Because He wants us to choose Him, not be forced to follow Him.
From the Catechism of the Catholic Church (emphasis mine):
God created man a rational being, conferring on him the dignity of a person who can initiate and control his own actions. “God willed that man should be ‘left in the hand of his own counsel,’ so that he might of his own accord seek his Creator and feely attain his full and blessed perfection by cleaving to him.” (CCC 1731)
What path do you seek out? Are you seeking your Creator? Do you cleave to Him???
And do you understand that God is your loving Father? Someone to rely on and follow, because His will is truly for our own good.
Recognizing this utter dependence with respect to the Creator is a source of wisdom and freedom, of joy and confidence… (CCC 301)
Let that sink in! “utter dependence” on God is “a source of wisdom and freedom, of joy and confidence…”
And one more:
Though often unconscious collaborators with God's will, they (human beings) can also enter deliberately into the divine plan by their actions, their prayers, and their sufferings. They then fully become “God's fellow workers” and co-workers for his kingdom. (CCC 307)
Wow! What a beautiful thought, to become “co-workers” with God.
