At the end of the forty days of deluge, Noah came out of the ark. He was filled with hope, but all he found outside was death and destruction. Noah protested: "Almighty God, if You knew the future, why did You create man? Just for the pleasure of punishing him?"
A triple perfume rose up into the sky: incense, the perfume of Noah's tears, and the aroma of his actions.
Then God replied: "The prayers of a just man are always heard. I will tell you why I did this: so that you will understand your work. You and your descendants will always be rebuilding a world which came from nothing - and in this way we share the work and the consequences. Now we are all responsible."
How does one love God? Certainly not the way one loves the persons one sees and hears and touches. For God is not a person in our sense of the word. He is the Unknown, the wholly Other, above terms like he and she; person and thing.
When we-say an audience fills the hall and a singer’s voice fills the hall, we use the same word, fill, to refer to two distinct realities. When we say we love God and we love our friends, we are using the same word, love, to express two distinct realities. The singer’s voice does not really fill the hall; and we cannot really love God in the ordinary sense of the word.
To love God with one’s whole heart means to say a wholehearted Yes to life; to accept without reservations all that God has ordained for it; to have the attitude that Jesus had when he said, “Not my will, but yours be done.”
The finest formulation of what it means to love God totally is found in Dag Hammarsjold’s words:
For all that has been. Thanks. To all that shall be, Yes.
This is the kind of thing one can give to God alone. In this he has no rivals. To understand that this is what it means to love God is to see at once that it doesn’t come in the way of loving your friends wholeheartedly, passionately.
The singer’s voice remains in undisputed possession of the crowded hall. The crowd is not a rival to it. The only rival is another voice. God holds undisputed sway over your heart. The people in it are no rivals. The only rival is a person or a thing that causes you to weaken your attitude of Yes and Thanks.
And suddenly you know: It's time to start something new and trust the magic of beginnings.
Its happening @ PetesPlace. The previous batch successfully completed with 100% placement. The Next batch commences the first week of April.
At PetesPlace we are committed to bringing change into the lives of children, giving them Education for Living and for Making a Living. Skill sets to help bring about a socio-economic change in their lives.
If you like to lend a helping hand, follow the link below to make a donation - You can do something, I can do something. Together we can do great things!
https://www.youcaring.com/PetesPlaceSchoolofCateringhospitality
https://www.youcaring.com/PetesPlaceSchoolofCateringhospitality
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