Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.”
~~ Psalm 91, 1-16
Laws of Permission Are Also Laws of Divine Providence
There are no “laws of permission” that are simply that, or that are separate from the laws of divine providence. They are the same thing; so saying that God allows something to happen does not mean that he wants it to happen but that he cannot prevent it because of his goal, which is our salvation. Whatever happens for the sake of this goal, our salvation, is in accord with the laws of divine providence, since as already noted [183, 211], divine providence is always moving away from and contrary to our own intentions. It is constantly focused on its goal; so at every moment of its work, at every single step of its course, when it notices that we are straying from that goal it leads and turns and adapts us in accord with its laws, leading us away from evil and toward good. We will see shortly that this cannot be accomplished without allowing bad things to happen.
~~ Divine Providence, 234, Emmanuel Swedenborg
In one of our recent services at New Church of Montgomery, the lay leader, Gloria, spoke about joy and read a quote from Desmond Tutu about how to deal with our violent world: “Start where you are. Do what you can.” ~~ The Book of Joy: Lasting Happiness in a Changing World, Dalai Lama and Desmond Tutu
In her latest book, Who Do We Choose to Be, Margaret Wheatley calls us to create “Islands of Sanity” amid the chaos.
What can you do today, where you are, to bring peace to a piece of our troubled world?~~Sue Marie
(Note: The idea and some of the content for today’s blog have been adapted from Rev. Dr. Wilma Wake’s Swedenborgian Community online service from October 15, 2017.)
New Church of Montgomery, in Glendale 