Oct
21
Written by:
Felicia Fox
10/21/2009 2:29 PM
Last night at a college game night I was introduced to the board game, Apples to Apples. The rules are pretty easy. Each player gets a set number of red cards with nouns on them. In the middle of the table there is a pile of green cards with adjectives on them. When a green card is turned over each play lays down a red card with a noun they think the adjective describes. Sometimes the words make sense other times they are just funny. It is a great game.
Sometimes I feel like people are playing Apples to Apples with God. As a minister I get to be a “fly on the wall” of people’s lives both during the really good parts and the really bad parts. I’ve noticed that the way a person describes God is directly linked to the situations they are facing. The nature of God doesn’t change only the way we see God does.
This morning I got a call that my five year old cousin had drowned. In moments like that it seems hard to describe God as loving, compassionate, and caring. God hasn’t changedbeing any of those things. It is just harder for me to see those qualities in God now.
Describing God is much more than a game of Apples to Apples. It is a relationship that requires that I take the time to get to God as he really is. It requires I look past the way I want God to be or the emotions I feel towards God. When we take the time to really get to know God the really good parts of life and the really bad parts will all seem sweeter.