Luab: Faith in God, goodness of man

Saturday, February 4, 2012

I KNOW with no doubt, whatsoever, that God loves me. One thing which meditation has instilled in my being is that I am rooted in a God who holds me in His embrace because I have accepted Him into my life. God lovingly offers me the roots which I am blessed and privileged to hold on to.

Because I know that there is a God in all of us, I believe in the innate goodness of man. Of course, I do get hurt too in the few times I misplaced my trust, but these are now few and far between. Generally, people are basically good! More often than not, it is necessity or force of circumstances which makes people fail.

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Only recently I caught one of my employees blatantly lying to me. This was an employee I trusted. The problem had to do with the repair of his roof, which the rain had damaged. Going into his inconsistencies, the lies became quite clear. Asking for time to decide on the sanction and for him to reflect on the misdeed, I sat down and I prayed. Still feeling so low, I called up a close friend and poured out my heart. Just being able to release my hurt brought me back to my equilibrium. (Thank you, dear friend, for the patient and kind ear.)

In the private confrontation which I later held with my employee, he broke down and asked to be forgiven. Believing that man is basically good, I had to remind him that shame is never an excuse for deceit. I also remembered that sometimes even trustworthy employees fall because of a situation where a need has to be answered.

Most of the sins in this world are committed because of man’s inability to put principles ahead of need. But who are we to judge when we are not in his shoes?
Somehow, God in His goodness showed me the way for a judicious and compassionate solution.

At another time, I was with a group of friends at a seminar held at the gym of a school. We have often been to that gym, and the guard there respects no one except, I suppose, his gun. He is very strict with us when we park, and rarely do we get a smile from him.

One time, however, during the break time of our session, I was at a railing where I could see him. He was eating his snack. Two scavengers came his way, and immediately he waved his arm to shoo them away. However, one of the boys made a motion to ask for what the guard was eating. I was really pleasantly amazed to see him break his bread into two and give it to the two boys. A gesture reflecting the basic goodness of man.

Up to this day, I shall never forget an incident in a pediatric ward of Cebu City Medical Center. In my younger days, I did volunteer work there. It was only when I started having grandchildren that I stopped because of the fear of being the carrier of a contagious disease. One resident physician in that charity ward was very strict with the patients, and we really thought she was in the wrong place. One time, however, a child was dying and needed a blood transfusion.
The minute the blood type was known, off went her white coat and this strict doctor with the same blood type gave her blood. Again, man’s innate goodness!
In these present times, we are taught by experiences to use our head. Okay, let us do that. Let us, however, allow our heart to temper our head so that our neighbor can be helped up because of our faith in his basic goodness.

God’s faith in us has never waned. Our gift of free will has often led us astray because of our egos. However, every time we fall, God’s unconditional love for us always catches us before we hurt ourselves.

In faith, we just have to trust that a loving Father will protect us from harm if we but ask. So let us hold hands, believe in each other and believe in God’s love for us.