Your Blog Steward

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Omaha, Nebraska, United States
I am more and more convinced that most congregations die from a staggering lack of imagination. Let's change that. Let's imagine a creative future with God and each other together. Drop me a line on email or leave a comment if you have thoughts on God, Jesus, congregations, the church or whatever.... I look forward to our conversations.

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

I love my mother, but...

Apparently a world-wide study was done recently that asked people to answer the above question. "I love my mother, but..." and it turns out there are some interesting differences in how people answer. Some people, usually us folks in the industrialized Western world answer that question in some form of "But she's so difficult." Others, mostly from the Pacific rim and other cultures tend to answer in some form of "But I can never repay her for all she has done." I'm not so interested in which culture answers what, but I am interested in the two major variety of responses.
The responses that indicate a love for a mother, but that somehow the mother is "difficult" to love is truly interesting for its complete self-centeredness. As if the person loving is doing OK, and it would be a better relationship if the other (in this case the mother) was better. In other words, any problems with my relationship with my mom is mostly my mother's fault.
The other response is precisely the opposite. That is, the mother is clearly worthy of love, and I am not able to love as she needs. In other words, any problems with my relationship with my mother is my fault, not my mother's. So which answer best describes your relationship with your mother? Or, as this is a blog on theology, how about God?
How would you answer this question: I love God, but...?

You can answer this just about anyway you want, and I suppose there are no right or wrong answers. You can use the comment section of this post to share your thoughts on the answers to this question.

For me, the answer to that question is rather simplistic....I love God, but I'm not sure why God loves me...

What you got?

1 comment:

gail said...

I love my mother, but I haven't always appreciated her. Maybe I'm getting smarter?

I love God, but I don't know if I'm capable of understanding his greatness or grace. And I'm pretty sure I haven't responded as I want to.