When we allow someone to struggle, we actually create less pressure and actually instill more real freedom into the heart. We release them from ideals and legalism, actually validating their humanness and releasing their spirit from deeper levels of bondage.

As you move with transcendent curiosity into the life of another person, you must remember that he or she is a terrible tragedy unfolding into brilliant hope. Why? Because there are never simple solutions to complex problems. The law is never the cure, but maybe the medicine of life is willingly entering the battle for the heart and soul of someone you love. It is then that we join God in his deeper work and the story unfolds into an aroused appetite for God. This hunger always comes when dreams shatter and the mystery of moving through life requires courage and the deepest faith.

Moving others toward divine love sometimes means that you will call them to cooperate with a process that they cannot control - where the outcome is uncertain and faith takes a deeper root than ever before - where they join God even when it doesn't seem to make any sense on the surface of things. If the formulas, legalism, and the rule of law abound, spiritual rhythm looks like compulsive and possessive love. A non possessive love is neither threatening, controlling, nor deceptively manipulative - it's that which draws us and keeps us and that for which we crave more. It's a love that joins the mystery of God's Sovereign Movement that releases our best heart and deepest soul. Praise Him.

Thor Knutstad