The shop in the upscale arts area sold and repaired valuable stained glass. The sign in the window read:
Pricing Notice for Repairs
$10 per hour
If you want to watch, $50 per hour
If you want to offer advice, $100 per hour
The owner had experience in trying to repair stained glass while the owner stood over his shoulder and offered advice, and worse, tried to get involved. Owners of stained-glass take great pride in the colours and designs of the glass. They want to be involved. The repairman’s pricing model suggested that the more the owner was involved the more difficult the repair.
I think that God, as I have understood Him, is like this. When I take my character in for repair things seem to work best when I leave Him be and let Him do His work. But like the owner of a stained-glass design, I take great pride in my character.
And like the stained-glass owner, helping God with advice on how to manage and solve my problems does not seem to work.
My ideas confuse things. All my ideas are framed within my attitudes and perceptions. And all my attitudes and perceptions are bounded by my knowledge. They might be good ideas, but that will be more good luck than good management. And God’s attitudes and perceptions are much better than mine. Lastly, my knowledge of my circumstances is much less than God’s, his vantage point is much higher and therefore better.
Finally, I am so busy telling Him my advice that I cannot hear what He is saying for the repairs.
So helping God is like helping the stained-glass repair man. The work is more difficult
Even, watching Him is sub-optimal. I need to act, not watch. The repairs that God makes, and the help that God gives, is connected to action, not observation. If I ask for help or ask for a character defect to be removed, and just stand there, nothing happens. Action, movement and change is necessary, watching and waiting will not work.
So in the storefront window of Steps Six and Seven, the removal of character defects, the sign reads:
Time for Repair
Long
If you watch, much longer
Giving advice, much much longer
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