What we can handle

We have heard it said time and again that God doesn't give us anything we can't handle.  I must admit I have said the phrase myself but recently come to the conclusion I interpret the phrase slightly different from most.  We are not marionettes and God is not the puppeteer.  We have no strings attached to us by which God manipulates our moves.  We are, however, intimately connected to God, He knows each one of us personally and gives us the opportunity to know Him on such a personal level as well.  The gift of faith affords us the ability to dig deep into our soul, via the heart, and experience unconditional everything as offered by God.  In enriching and using our faith we become ever bonded with God who speaks daily, who awakens us with a beautiful sunrise and who blankets us with love that we may rest in the cool night air.  Ever present, God walks among us; He takes our hand and comforts us when we are sad, He carries us when we are weak and He celebrates with us when we discover the joy of our heart.  It is in our sadness that God, too, weeps.  All that we know, all that we are, all that we possess comes from God.  Made in His image and likeness we have the ability to act like God; this is not to say we can become Godly,  we cannot become super human but we can, should we choose to develop our gifts, tap into our innate gifts making them come to life and glorify God.  Granted with the gift of free will, we have the ability to choose; life, our actions, our thoughts, our attitude these are all choices we freely make whether we accept this truth or claim fate the opportunity or burden, outlook dependent, falls upon us.  We could choose to stay in bed all day, lay and wallow in self pity, lose our job and find ourselves without prospects.  Choice two, we get out of bed, mope around in misery as we ready ourselves for the day, go to work, gripe about the job yet do the job for the paycheck, come home and complain about the day.  Option three involves a different attitude; so the day begins with the rain hitting the window...oh the flowers need watered.  As you ready yourself for the day you think about all the people you will have the opportunity to speak with, all the people in which you will be able to recognize God.  And so the work day begins and it is a little hectic but you take several opportunities to look for God throughout the day and when you return home you are met with conversation from family  members who shared in the experience of God throughout their day.  All three viable options, all three choices granted to us because of free will.  Life happens, the world was set in motion and like us, nature, itself, has free will.  Hurricanes, natural disasters they just happen.  I become so upset when I hear someone says the fact of, "God caused the volcano to erupt because the people we not acting as they should."  God is saddened by the devastation that happens to His creation; He weeps out of love for His children.  Unfortunately, many people see this world, our life, as a test and each hardship or obstacles which presents itself as a test of our faith, a test of our relationship with God.  Life is not a test.  An interruption from the emergency broadcast system will not inform us that this life is a test because it is the furthest thing from a test.  Life is an opportunity to develop our connection with our loving creator who did not create us to be marionettes nor did He create us and say, "Go, figure it out by yourself."  God's presence in our life is amazing, we are never alone yet our minds tell us otherwise,  this is why we have to listen with our hearts that we may clearly hear the words of the Father.  I had the misfortune to be present at a homily where a priest spoke of God's love as a test.  He went on to say that God will test us, He will test our faith by making sadness, making misfortune come our way.  I was deeply saddened by this homily as I watched people soak up his words and believe that our loving God would purposefully bring such cruelty, such suffering into our lives.  God does not need an ego boost; He is omnipotent, omnipresent and all knowing, He could do anything He wants at any time but He chooses love all of the time.  Created from love, we are love and we are loved that we may reciprocate this love to others and show them life is not about conditions rather it is conditionless affording us the opportunity to discover  God in our midst, dwelling within our very hearts.  The priest incorporated the haunting phrase, "God does not give us anything we can't handle", it was then that I realized that my interoperation of this infamous phases was much different from others.  His take was that God was throwing our way obstacles to test whether or not our faith in Him was strong enough to withstand each hardship.  Suffering, in his eyes, was a blessing from God and that we should feel privileged to be rendered such burdens and sufferings; that somehow with this intentional test of suffering we are truly Christian.  Our humanity is what creates for us these obstacles, our mind creates for us hardships as we attempt to fuse together the accepted norms of society and the longing of the heart.  Humanity is flawed, we are not perfect not will we ever achieve perfection but God is not looking for perfection He is simply looking for connections.  Instead of handing out the negative, the obstacles, the hardships followed by anxieties, what if God didn't give us anything we couldn't handle but in a much different fashion?  Blessed with the gift of faith, we are able to innately speak with God and listen to God, we are able to recognize God in each setting of the sun and each birth of a new born baby.  From our youth, or from our moment of acceptance, we develop our faith.  Birthed as blank canvases, we paint our own image, we script our own manuals for each action, each decision is a choice, our choice.  Faith can grow, we can plant it that its roots deepen in the love of Christ; we can sow each seed that our faith begins to grow only to be choked but the mind causing heartache and despair; or we can leave our gift of faith untouched, in its original wrapping left to collect dust...each a separate choice causing a different stroke upon our blank canvas.  Not only were we gifted with faith but each of us has been blessed with many talents which, when used, bring forth more talents, more opportunities for us to discover the truth of God in our world.  Should we be blessed with wisdom we see all things, in our world, as God; each rain upon the fields as God feeding His world.  Should knowledge be our gift roadblocks are just opportunities to see life in a different light, thus permitting our path to turn and permeate love, God's love, in a different direction.  Should understanding bless our lives, each call of God would be accepted as love and reciprocated with the same degree of love.  Given the opportunity, life moves us, we need not force life upon ourselves or others.  Innately known, we discover truth, we discover love, we discover over very selves in the eyes of God, our heartbeat of life.  Tenderly He created us, intimately He knows us and passionately He celebrates us not with tests but with love, unconditional love.  God truly has given us all that we need to handle life for He gives us Himself, He gives us His love, His affection, His concern.  Yes, in His infinite wisdom, God knows what we need but it is our trust of God that permits us to ask for His help, it is our love of God that embraces His strength when we tire and it is our hope in God that keeps us turning toward that sun that we may always feel the warmth of His love.  "God doesn't give us anything we can't handle"...this is truth for God resides in each one of us.  With His offering of free will, faith, love and His constant presence, obstacles may deter our journey, hardships may cause pain and blindsided challenges may cause confusion but it is in these very times that trust becomes our greatest gift and we place our lives in the Father's hands that we may step back and look at the situation with eyes of love.    Life is not a test, life is love; God's love. Should we forget this we need only look to the cross...unconditional love our gift, our choice to accept.