Thought of the Day 11.10.08

Last week, in the delivery room, I experienced something very unusual: a total sense of helplessness. My wife was in pain, and, unlike the nurses who could comfort or instruct her, any such effort by me would earn words hissed in the tone of profanity. This I know from past experience. She wants me to stand there silently, not touching her. My penance, I suppose. And like a good husband during his wife’s labor, I do whatever she wants.

It made me ponder just how accustomed we Americans are to having control over everything. We rebel at any imposition upon our agenda, from box tops that don’t open properly to the indignation of actually having to wait for a gas pump. Impotence is incompatible with our national identity.

And yet, the irony is that this very sense of power, more than any other single factor, may be the river steadily eroding our faith. Eventually, God’s help becomes irrelevant to those who are so capable of helping themselves.