I've never been one to shy away from challenging the Divine. Maybe it's the way I was brought up--in a household where we all bitched pretty freely. I don't think bitching should be a habit, just an honest response when appropriate to the situation.
So today I present my bitching in the form of a suggestion to the Almighty. I realize that I am not wise enough to give God advice--that's not even the point. Consider this a form of prayer.
A person really should reach some sort of minimum age requirement before having to learn perseverance. For instance, hungry babies should be fed and not expected to simply hold out until food is made available by the prevailing government or occupying force or whatever.
Also, adolescents should not have to fight cancer before they've been to their first prom. That's just wrong, in my human opinion. A kid should not have to devise elaborate plans for eating, sleeping, moving, managing pain, and keeping food down. That's a form of perseverance that could certainly be kicked up a level, don't you think? Could we please allow that adolescent to learn how to, say, keep a part-time job and manage a bank account first? Could we give the kid time to fall in love and be silly and skate on the edge of rebellion at school and home?
Perseverance should be reserved for people who have built up some steam already, for those of us old enough to have fallen down and gotten up a few times. And perseverance should be developed in increments anyway, not in huge servings all at once and with no warning.
Okay, then. Amen.
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