Brilliant Epiphany

America learned a valueable lesson this weekend despite all attempts by past professors (sorry Dr. W), this was a lesson America was doomed to learn from the School of Hard Knocks. America learned what freewill is really all about, or rather, has a better understanding of what freewill really means.

It used to be that freewill meant the ability God gave us to choose and that this was given and applied to concrete things: things such as career and whether or not to believe in God, that sort of thing. As America grew up and understood more finer points of life, it became clear that freewill also incorporated the ability to choose what to do or not to do when following through on these sorts of commitments for example, following God, what exactly to do and not to do when calling oneself a Christian. Then there were the points in time where freewill meant to make any decision whatsoever with or without consulting God — isn't that what freewill is anyway???

Well, this is all very well and good, and for the most part America still believes these are important aspects of freewill but to take it one step farther, and after the weekend's events, the ability God gave each individual to freely choose, America thinks, has the most to do with feelings: not how to feel as a reaction, but what to feel proactively — God always meant us to be proactive, Paul writes about that a lot, specifically in Philippians 4:8. Freewill must mean that we have the ability to choose what we feel and as a response to that, our actions flow without choice, lest we become a hypocrite and in reality, not choosing what we said we chose (are you confused yet?).

Dispite difficult situations, if America chooses to look at situations optimistically, the actions that flow from that choice will already be chosen, just like if one chooses to follow a certain political/philosophical thought, the actions that support that philosophy calls for will also be followed based on the previous choice of following that thought. Freewill then, has less to do with our daily decisions and more to do with what we choose to feel and what we choose to commit to.

Most people who have been married a significant amount of time will be quick to say - or should be quick to say - that loving the person they are married to is frequently enough, a choice and not something they feel. As a result of that choice, the one will do things toward the spouse that reflect the choice to love. Therefore, the things they do are not the choice, the choice is what they choose to feel...not how they choose to feel. See the difference?

Today, America would like to thank, not a country, but a few States within her own country that reflect the fact that this has been told to her a number of times but thanks to this weekend, Spain, Korea, and Fiji brought home this brilliant epiphany in a much clearer light: Iowa, Michigan, and Florida (to some extent).