"On Being Open to God......or Not"

“You know,” she announced assertively, “it’s all about being open.”  Standing in her kitchen, preparing dinner, she went on. “If you want to live your life with God, you just have to be open to Him.” 

This is the mother of the little pit bull, and she has always been one who “tells it like it is.”  And, like her daughter, she has a heart the size of the universe.  When you look at my grandgirl you see her Momma.

While cleaning a house yesterday, my thoughts were on her statement.  And this is where I landed.

Given the tenor of the times all over the world, it is my suspicion there are many who are sick and tired of having God forced down their throats, who feel His very name is offensive, and want nothing to do with Him and vice versa.

It is my hope that some clarity and light might be brought to those on both sides of the aisle—to those who are doing the forcing and to those who are on the receiving end.

There is a tendency for those to whom their religion is important to want to share, to evangelize, to try to “save the world.”  And thus there is a flood of words blanketing the land, much of it rude, obnoxious, and overbearing—in the name of God and much of it one man's version of God.  This is the antithesis of God; this is not God.  He asks that people live their lives in a manner which draws others, not dissimilar to a moth being drawn to a flame, and to be ready to answer if questioned.  Force-feeding is not His style.

For those who do not want Him and want nothing to do with Him, I can categorically and emphatically state that God will never force Himself upon you.  He does desire a relationship with you, a friendship, but this is where your free will enters in.  He approaches you in that quiet place within, but if you say “No, thank you,” He will never push in.  He has far too much class and is too much of a gentleman to go where He isn’t wanted or invited.

The caveat, however, is that we do live with the choice made.  When the mountains begin to fall, when, at the end of this mortal life, things aren’t as you expected, planned, or hoped they would be—you will be left with that “free will” choice.  There is no re-do. 

Stand.  He asks that each of us stand, simply stand in the decision we have made.  Stand and live in it--and eventually, die in it. 

For those who want nothing to do with God, take comfort in the fact that He gives that freedom and that right.  He'll have nothing to do with you then.  For those who do want Him, all you have to do is be open, and He will share Himself with you as you live your life.

And for those who insist upon forcing your version of God upon others--stop.  He is very capable on His own.

God is love, and He loves me enough to let me choose.