In The Creative Encounter Howard Thurman tells the story of meeting a woman on a train who told him: “’Before I left home today I took all my troubles” — here she digressed for twenty minutes to fill in the details – “made them into a neat bundle and handed them over to God, but before he could get the bundle unwrapped to take a look, I snatched them back again.’”
Thurman’s moral of the story: “There are many people who would feel cheated if suddenly they were deprived of the ego definition that their suffering gives them.”
That resonates with me. I enjoy a good wallow at least as much as the next person, perhaps more. To Thurman’s point, though, giving my troubles to God is of little use unless I allow Him time to “get the bundle unwrapped to take a look.” But of course I want resolution to be not only instantaneous but also to my liking.
Oh no! Here comes the one/two punch of humility and patience?
It occurs to me... 