It's an old debate, one to which I've referred numerous times:  divine sovereignty and human will.  I mention it now because I've been thinking about how hard it is to live with the prospect of a metaphysical.  By its nature, the metaphysical invites tension. For starters, we can't see it.  And if we attribute to the metaphysical some ability to confer worldly value, such as human worth or cosmic meaning, we compound the issue.  How do we measure such assertions?  How do we compare what we see with what we do not while believing that they are both true?

     On the other hand, if the metaphysical exists, and if it exercises some degree of activity in this material reality, we will always find ourselves wrestling with its relationship to the fact of human will.  They're both real, they're both true.  By themselves, they do not always make sense, yet together they do not always, either.

     So what do we do?  We decide that we can live without knowing everything fully even while we resolve to live knowing everything fully, everything, that is, we can hear, taste, smell, touch, and see, yet also everything, that is, we do not.  We cannot escape our finitude, we cannot elude our place.  We're sovereign, yet God is, too.  It's a story both of us begin, yet it's a story only one of us will end.
     The challenges--and joys--of humanness.
     By the way, I'll be traveling for the next week or so, backpacking in the mountains of the West.  I'll catch up when I return.  Thanks for reading!