Push or Pull

A debate ranges; do you pull or push a person into a particular position.  The question is easy if nothing is at stake; gently pull with an easy release should there be any resistance.  Yet with there is more at stake the question becomes significantly more difficult. 
 
You can see this play out in many situations in life.  Watch how people respond to traffic when they are struggling to meet a deadline.  Compare their reaction with the response of someone happy, satisfied, and in a relaxed mode.  The contrast is stark.  Listen to a band in their grove react to an unexpected glitch.  If the crowd is strongly supportive, the setting peaceful, and the grove tangible – everyone will roll and go with the flow.  The contrast to a band struggling to get things together is painfully obvious.  One works the other doesn’t.  One is filled with mutual appreciation for what is working while the other confronts the reality of something that just isn’t happening. 
 
As one response extends to things personal – relationships, parents or children, and even God – the response question becomes increasingly brittle.  Individuals do not like to be questioned, especially when they have made up their minds.  Individuals rarely appreciate their choices being debated by others, especially when they seem them as personal.  Individuals do not like having others attempt to shape their freedom, even when they sense it might be for their own good.
 
There is one force in the process that I find myself frequently forgetting.  God is engaged in your life and mine.  Divinity has made a home in your life and mine.  In matters of great risk, when it becomes personal, it is hard to trust – even God. 
 
I find when I get out of God’s way, Divinity can work.  In the process “those who got off-track will get back on-track, and complainers and whiners learn gratitude.”  (Isaiah 29.24)  In addition I find myself being able to cheer God and fellow travelers, lending support when asked or directed.  It’s an amazing experience; shared hands at the life’s wheel.