Well, consistency turns out to be one of those things that looks much differently based upon the paradigm one lives from. As a young parent I heard it over and over and over...."Being consistent with your discipline is the most important advice we can give you." This concept spreads out from parenting into all situations where people are attempting to manage other people's behaviors. Today looking back I can see clearly that most people are concerned with conformity and control instead of the other person's freedom.
If Law is the operating paradigm, consistency means applying the rules equally to everyone in every situation (even ourselves). Try as hard as one might try to do this...history and personal experience proves that it is just not going to happen. And even if the desired end product of uniformity was possible to achieve...how boring and unlivable it would be.
If love and grace is the paradigm from which we live, consistency takes on such a different meaning/feeling altogether. All the models are useless. There is no pattern to follow and end product is no longer the focus. Turns out that the process is where life in all it's wonder and messiness and pain happens.
11 comments:
you could do more posts on this....
if God prompts...I'll be watching...
:)
Todd
Todd, if something comes up I will post more on this. The difficulty for us all is that we are so shaped by conformity it's so difficult to imagine anything outside that paradigm. What society labels "acceptable" behavior so determines then how we see the way forward. What must we do then to achieve that goal set by the society we live in.
Don't get me wrong...order is easier to deal with than chaos....we just must never confuse order/conformity with the freedom that Father Son and Spirit are at work to see formed in us and those around us...even our children.
Unless its consistency in love. That's one consistency required :)
that's what i was getting at sister sue. but there really is no fixed pattern to love.
Exactly :) A big broad land to swim in. One that requires your brain and your heart in gear though. Which is where the difficulty seems to be ...
Don't mind me. I'm just sick of the human race at the moment!!! :)
Sue, funny you should say that.
One of my daughters is helping a friend...as we speak...who is in an abusive situation and is extremely upset.
I mentioned to Julie the line from OTR's song Changes Come just a few minutes ago that goes something like this:
Somedays I think that maybe
This ol’ world’s too fucked up
For any firstborn son
That song always feels to me like a powerful gut wrenching prayer...kind like U2's Wake Up Dead Man.
Oh, the best kind of prayers, the best!!!!
True, real, guts on the table prayers. Such a great line of that song. Such a great song! Might have to give it a whirl, now.
Sue, shortly after mentioning the song to Julie I was listening to it also.
Thanks for the lessons Kent, great observations.
Best
Leonard
Another great post, Kent. We like to set up rules for everything but love is not a one size fits all set of rules. Each person and each circumstance often require a different response.
Our goal should be to provide an environment where our children can become the people Father created them to be instead of trying to conform their behavior to our expectations.
you are welcome leonard. I'm glad you could use it.
Aida, so very true...and it is so very beautiful.
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