Be reasonable,” she advised. A wonderful woman I know was talking about her widowed neighbor.
This woman continued to live in her home after her husband died but had trouble maintaining it. It stung because right now I am struggling with the same issues of overgrown landscaping and gutters with weeds popping up.
“You have to be reasonable,” she commented to me when I said it may be time to sell. I felt sad at first comparing my messy yard and messy emotions to her seemingly composed life.
Then something bubbled up inside me. What if faith was required to ” be reasonable.”
“C’mon Jesus! Be reasonable!” Why would you make all these different flowers in different colors, shapes and sizes? It would have been so much easier and more reasonable to make one variety and leave it at that.
Why make so many different skin colors of people, with differently shaped eyes and cultural preferences? “Be reasonable!” Let us homogenize everyone with social media and AI, which destroys the world’s water resources. At least then there would be no need to speak in tongues so that people could understand the Holy Spirit.
“With all sacred respect, what are You thinking, Lord?” Why do we need wind, rain, snow, hail and sun? Or salty oceans if fresh water is preferable for human beings? Please be reasonable.
“Why look for lost sheep, Lord? Be reasonable.” You have 99 others who will provide wool and lamb chops. You could waste a lot of precious time looking and coaxing one defiant stray sheep back to the fold. The others will be jealous and resent the attention you gave it.
And one more thing, Lord. Why don’t all people carry guns every day? Why give free will? Some people refuse to engage in violence even though they risk their own safety?
If everyone thought the same way conflicts could be resolved in a heartbeat or less. Instead, some spend time matching around trying to raise awareness for the protection of the unborn, elderly, animals and natural resources. So much easier to let death hold sway, isn’t it?.
About this scene with decaying Lazurus in the tomb. Please let us be real, Lord, as Martha suggested due to the possible stench.
Why did You wait four days to call him out? ” Be reasonable.” As Martha commented you could have prevented it in the first place and saved Yourself the trip to scary Jerusalem.
Why didn’t you just give up, give in, take it easy. Carve some tables and chairs and have a secure, quiet life.
This decision to die on the cross for the sins of people who hated You and your beloved mother, Lord? “Be reasonable!”
This is your precious life and you are at the peak of your maturity both physically and psychologically. Sleeping outdoors, touching lepers, pressed on all sides by needy people clamoring for you to feed and heal them? And you still do this every day through the Eucharist?
Even your family members could see the extreme measures needed to carry out your mission. Preaching from a boat to keep from being crushed by the crowd, trading words with those who sought to stone you in the temple, all despite your desire to save souls.
Six hours of physical suffering on an instrument of torture, not to mention the mental suffering preceding the crucifixion, and the damage of carrying the cross to your own execution.
“Be reasonable, Lord.” Nearly all your friends hid to save themselves and abandoned You despite being chosen to carry your message.
Is this “reasonable?” Only if You are the most pure-hearted, most merciful being. It’s reasonable to the God/man who called the taxpayer from the Sycamore tree and who forgave the sins of the woman caught in adultery by saying, ” I don’t condemn you either. Go and sin no more.”
You are Our Lord, unreasonable in mercy, unreasonable in love and unreasonable in forgiveness.
I believe it is okay to be “unreasonable” in faith when the Lord speaks to your heart. To exhaust all our human abilities to follow the prompting of the Holy Spirit as best we may discern the message. He will correct us if we misunderstand, but our trust is never misplaced.
At present I trust Him as I struggle to stay in the home He provided for me, not knowing if the time there is up. If He has another path that will appear.
Miracles are not “reasonable.” When I bought the property there was a rainbow in the sky. Recently, other rainbows have appeared. In prayer recently, I believe that Our Lady said to me, “Trust the rainbows.” It sounds reasonable to me.
