Water

water
Originally uploaded by wabi6.

In Madeleine L'Engle's study of Genesis, "A Stone for a Pillow" she speaks to the vulnerability inherent in free will. This vulnerability is seen both in the risk God took when He called us to write the story of humanity with Him and in the risks we frail beings take when we act on God's calling. L'Engle writes that

"If we refuse to take the risk of being vulnerable we are already half dead. If we are half dead we don't have to starve with the people of Ethiopia. We don't have to share the terrible living conditions of old people struggling to exist on dwindling social security payments...We don't' have to smell the stench of filth, and disease, and hunger in the favelas and barrios." (pg 313).

I believe that our refusal to step out into radical love pains God, not only for the sake of His children who we leave to misery, but also for the offer of abundant life that we refuse for ourselves. By living in passive mediocrity and succumbing to comfortable numbness we throw the gifts of life and free will back in the face of God. We live as though God was "out there" and not Emmanuel, longing to act with us, in us, through us.
Small actions we take may have huge ramifications, pebbles on the pond so to speak. Or to use a once-trendy analogy- "A butterfly flapping it's wings in Costa Rica sets in motion an earthquake in Japan." By choosing to use our free will to follow the voice of El and go where we may not wish to be led, we can choose to be a "universe disturber" (in the words of L'Engle). A moment of self-sacrifice on the part of one human being can set in motion an earthquake in the soul of another. Surely the risk is worth it?