...the Reaches of Grace.
Last week I wrote about balancing emotion and reason in how we think about and respond to things, especially those issues close to our hearts like homeschooling and religious views. And thinking about the hyper-emotional people we have encountered, it's not too hard to see the problems with leaning too far toward pure emotion.
But what about reason? What are the limits of reason? Why would it be problematic to just be purely reasonable all the time? What could possibly be wrong with that?
That's what's been gnawing on the base of my cerebral cortex for a few days. Thinking about it keeps bringing me back to a conversation I had with a couple people in college. They were in the honors program at my University, and they had been reading Plato (or something) and had been in discussion about logic and reason. "What," one of the girls put to the small group of us, "limits reason?"
I ventured to suggest that Reason itself is not limited. The problem is that we are. Thus, the problem is not Reason, but our use of it. We may be completely reasonable, but without the right knowledge we may come to the wrong conclusion. I know I have.
Thinking back on that now: The same is probably true of Emotion. Emotion is not wrong, but we may respond to it inappropriately.
But where does that leave us? If we can not perfectly utilize the tools available to us, what hope is there?
And that points me back to the beauty of Grace. I have read some amazing stories from moms who know all too well their limitations and short-comings. But what makes their tales so incredible, is the grace they are bathed in. Our foibles wouldn't be nearly as funny or tear-of-joy inducing if it wasn't for the incredible reach of Grace.
May you find yourself wrapped in grace today.
~Luke Holzmann
Filmmaker, Writer, Expectant Father
P.S. After much valiant struggle, I believe I have overcome the windmills of iTunes: The Sonlight Podcasts are available (and subscribe-able!) in iTunes. Click on the following link to be taken to the Sonlight Podcasts in iTunes.
[NB: This is different from the other podcast I initially linked to in iTunes, and I am working with iTunes to get the "dead" podcast off the list. Thanks for bearing with me.]
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