Rule #1 in Life

Paul Allyn — Tue, 14 Mar 2006 08:05:00 -0700

Fr. Paul’s Rule #1 in Life
God is good, even if annoying

There is nothing, nothing truer than this.
Except that there is a God and Jesus is God. OK, but those are presuppositions, not rules.

Now, this is not to say that God is inherently annoying, but that we are continually annoyed by God. Some of us more than others. As one who has lost a wife, two children, two dogs, been underemployed and unemployed, I will confess to a fairly high degree of annoyance from time to time. Being a chaplain in a children’s hospital also tended to raise my annoyance level. There is a lot of tragedy and trauma in the world.

One of the interesting aspects of this rule is how people tend to respond to it. I am continually amazed that people who have suffered one form of tragedy or another – in general – have an intuitive understanding of the truth of this rule. And that nothing is truer – rule-wise.

On the other hand…
Folks who have led or are leading a mostly comfortable life, who observe the fallenness of the world from a distance, have a tendency to take umbrage at this rule.

The other interesting aspect of this rule is how people tend to read it backwards, either focusing inordinately on “annoying” and not on “good”, or hearing it as “God is annoying, even if good.” That’s just another symptom of a fallen world.

But God is good. In the midst of annoyance (aka, tragedy, trauma, stress, fallenness, etc) God walks with us, beside us, and sometimes carries us along. God knows we live in a fallen world and a sadness He bears. When we weep, God weeps (John 11:35).

The fact of Jesus says God’s intention is to not leave us alone. The fact of Easter says our annoyance is temporary and no matter how deep the trauma, the hurt, the tragedy, in the end it is a cosmic inconvenience.

We will not be left alone.
When we weep, God weeps.
When we laugh, God laughs.
When we fall, God lifts us up.
When we can’t get up, God carries us.
God is good.

God give you joy
Fr. Paul

The Wandering Anglican: Rule #1 in Life

Rule #1 in Life