Fodder

I wish I could say that I could stop every bad thing that happened with and to the people around me.  I cannot, even when I can see it coming.  One of the advantages of experience is the ability to see the paths unfolding around me.  It is not hard to anticipate the trauma washing over the team.  Their actions gave birth to mess.  Their decisions and choices often nurtured the pain they find themselves struggling with.  Even the constraints that shackle their freedom are ones they had a hand in creating.  It is a script that is far easy to see than it is to control. 
I know I cannot stop the mess, but I can use it to my advantage.  I can take the painful lessons and use them as content for teaching and instruction.  With careful use, our reflective dialogue can use the outcome of their choices to illustrate the alternatives available that improve our odds of success.  Every moment of conflict can be an opportunity for exercising compassion, mercy, and acceptance.  In reflection, each less than successful choice can be a moment to build community.  It is incredible fodder for growth.  It is the substance of learning.  There is a wonder that can come from the mess we often make of life.
This model is not unique or my own.  It is an old story that started with God.  “God, who through the preaching of all the prophets had said all along that his Messiah would be killed, knew exactly what you were doing and used it to fulfill his plans.”  (Acts 3.18)
Life is filled with moments of wonder, pain, joy, sadness, and confusion.  Each is, in its own way, a moment that we can connect with God.  Divinity can and will use each to continue a conversation with us.  As I let myself go, freeing myself to accept the gift of forgiveness and acceptance, I find myself filled with incredible insights into what it means to be compassionate, merciful, and filled with community.  Truth filled with inspiration, awe, and hope.