Listen to this story of a farmer and his horse, from the Taoist tradition, at least 2,000 years old. This story helps us understand the news as we hear it today.
One day his horse runs away. And his neighbor comes over and says, to commiserate, “I’m so sorry about your horse.” And the farmer says “Who Knows What’s Good or Bad?” The neighbor is confused because this is clearly terrible. The horse is the most valuable thing he owns.
But the horse comes back the next day and he brings with him 12 feral horses. The neighbor comes back over to celebrate, “Congratulations on your great fortune!” And the farmer replies again: “Who Knows What’s Good or Bad?”
And the next day the farmer’s son is taming one of the wild horses and he’s thrown and breaks his leg. The neighbor comes back over, “I’m so sorry about your son.” The farmer repeats: “Who Knows What’s Good or Bad?”
Sure enough, the next day the army comes through their village and is conscripting able-bodied young men to go and fight in war, but the son is spared because of his broken leg.
And this story can go on and on like that. Good. Bad. Who knows?
Let’s look into this good-in-the-bad and bad-in-the-good. Winning the lottery should be very good, right? But then you hear of some people blowing through their money, or having to deal with friends and relatives constantly wanting to be given money, or dealing with suicide, depression or divorce. Are rich people really better off, spiritually? And especially if those riches came suddenly without preparation? There can be plenty of bad along with plenty of good.
The news is full of bad news, rarely is there good news! It doesn’t sell. So, one of the headlines recently was:
Dye in Water Brings Another Citation to Clovewood Developers.
Not good. But if we think about it, perhaps we can find some good in the bad. Let’s do it together. Start with this headline. Dye in Water Brings Another Citation to Clovewood Developers.
Sounds bad, right? But this is an easy one: what good could come from this bad?
Yes, the developers are stopped, the pond is cleaned up. If they had not used dye, they might have polluted without people noticing.
The next is much harder. What good could come from the tornado that lasted over an hour, destroying many homes in Mississippi, and killing a dozen people? What good?
Some possibilities: the compassion that came from people toward others, the possibility that the future homes of those who lost homes will be even better, etc.
So, even now I question the words good and bad. They are so judgmental! And who knows what is truly Good? I guess only God knows.
The 3rd step of the 12 Steps says, We made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.”
But what is our will? What is God’s Will? How can we tell? I believe this must take a lot of wisdom and spiritual maturity. Luckily, we have clues from our instruction manual, the Bible.
And yet even that is not so clear. We are told to have faith, or in other words, to trust in God, or in other words, submit to God’s Will. Jesus said that if we had the faith of a mustard seed, we could move mountains! But, if we test that, and try to move something, even a pen, by our faith, it probably won’t happen. Perhaps, because it is our will, not God’s that wants to move it then, right?
We are also told, Ask and it will be given. But here is the caveat – first you must have faith that it will happen, and also, it must be God’s will. So when praying for health, or praying for wealth, or praying for mountains to move, what are we actually doing? Are we praying for our will to be done, not God’s? I don’t know about you, but I find this all very challenging.
Another word that comes up here is surrender. So, if we give up our will, another way to say it is to surrender to God’s will. I suppose we could stop imposing our will, and accept what is, like devastating tornadoes. Wow! That seems so challenging!
I spoke to my friend recently, and she brought up a story about an education worker in California who needed 4 jobs to afford rent. If she loses just 1 of those, she gets evicted, and must couch surf until she raises enough to afford an apartment again. Luckily she has friends and relatives there to support her when she falls.
My friend asked, so where is God? What is God’s Will? Is it God’s Will for her, as well as all the other workers at minimum wage, to live like this?
We cannot know God’s Will. However, we can assume that God’s hand is at play somewhere, and that some good must come out of some bad. Let’s find some good. This woman allowed the media to tell her story, and when that happens, several events might occur. For one, people now know of her plight. Many people who know her personally, now know of her circumstances, and might offer to help her. Now her employers know of her plight, and might even change their policies. Perhaps some other employers may want to hire her at a living wage, giving her a chance at a new life.
Her life may now become a life given over to God’s will, because of her courage to allow people to know her story. Or not, of course. Can we know God’s will in this case? No. And also, we must remember that we have free will. We are not alone in this, but we can be if we so choose.
Let’s follow a possible storyline where she loses one job. She cannot afford her rent, so she is homeless, couch surfing, while working 3 jobs. She now has a little extra time that she didn’t have before, let’s say she has 2 more hours a day. During that 2 hours, she chooses to do Yoga with friends that she had little time for before. Now she is socializing, taking better care of her body, connecting with God. She is now in a better state of being whole – body, mind and spirit – and now she can see her life better. She was pushed off the hamster wheel, onto solid ground, is able to assess her life, and figure out how to move forward. She had to move backward so that she could move forward. She had to surrender to the “bad” so she could find the “good”.
Now think of your story. Think of one time when something “bad” happened. Perhaps not something horrific, but something that set you back. Loss of a job, a break-up of a relationship, a forced move, a rejection letter. Got it? Now think of something good that came out of it. Pull yourself out the situation and the emotion; look at it from a higher perspective. What good would another person find from this circumstance? If you can’t think of anything, let’s talk later, or pick a different event.
I think that is how we find God’s Will.
Some people look at faith in God as God being a puppet master, and we are just God’s playthings, and subject to God’s every whim. I don’t really think this is anyone’s actual belief – I think people use this concept of fatalism to NOT believe in a God who is like a human being, but all powerful.
This brings us back to the discussion of our will. We have free will, a birthright, to do as we deem best. Of course we fail. There is no way we are so perfect that we cannot look back at a day a say, I did nothing wrong. It can be small things, like zoning out while driving causing a near accident. Or omitting an embarrassing fact that would cause someone to think less of us. Or eating, drinking or smoking something that is less than healthy for our body. Or cursing God.
It also could be a big thing, that plagues us for days, months or even years. These are the destroyers, the events that cause us agony, guilt and shame, and eventually the stress breaks down our body, mind and soul.
And yet, to go to God, to ask for help, to face these things and look them in the eye is to walk the Way with Jesus. It is having the courage to walk through the fire with help. To surrender rather than hold it all in. To cry and moan and feel the despair, then to shed some of that hurt. To be cleansed and baptized by the tears and grieving. Then to turn back to the everyday life with the memory of God’s love holding fast during that time. To build resilience, so that the next time it happens, because it will, it won’t hurt so much. This is the spiritual journey. A journey of faith, of love, and surrender to God’s Will.
Roman’s 8:9 says “But if God has taken up residence in your life, you can hardly be thinking more of yourself than of God.” If God has taken up residence in your life, you have surrendered to God’s Will.
So, what is our reward for surrendering? What is the “good” from the “bad”? Peace. Compassion. Walking the spiritual path and the Way of Jesus. And the giving and receiving of deep spiritual love. May it be so for you, today and always.
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