catapult magazine

catapult magazine
 

discussion

Any questions?

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Sheri
Dec 01 2002
03:39 pm

First of all, I wish a happy belated Thanksgiving to all!

BC—right about the e-mail. And my name is spelled with an “e”. But I still love you. In response to your question:

I’ve been told for years that God is my Heavenly Father. As such, I think I should treat him with the respect that I’d give to my earthly father. I may not always understand or agree with the decisions that my earthly dad makes, and I do have a right to express my frustration and anger to him, but I should do so in a way that still shows the respect he deserves. Granted, I do not always succeed at this endeavor, so I am sure there have been times that I have inappropriately reprimanded and/or whined to God, as well, but the ideal remains the same. In the end, we have to come to terms that we cannot change the decisions of our fathers—earthly or heavenly—and we must learn to cope with them and believe that they have our best interests at heart.

At times it is still hard for me to believe that it is okay to be angry with God. I think that anger and frustration is part of any healthy relationship, though—there are always miscommunications and other things that cause hurt, intentional or not. Since we are merely human, we cannot understand all that God does, and sometimes that causes us frustration. I think that he understands that and allows us to vent, kindly listening and shaking his head at our perceptions of his acts, hoping that someday we will understand, but knowing that even if we don’t, we will continue to walk with him because we know from experience that he is faithful (just like I know that even though you have failed to e-mail me for so long, and even forgotten how to spell my name, you haven’t forgotten me—you even have CBC pray for me nightly).

How do you explain it to your class? Do you agree with my analysis?