what would your name be?
May 15, 2007
catesbool
The story had been transmitted from generation to generation so that no one would ever forget: sometimes it was necessary to struggle with God. Every human being at some time had tragedy enter his life; it might be the destruction of a city, the death of a son, an unapproved accusation, a sickness that left one lame forever. At that moment, God challenged one to confront Him and to answer His question: “Why dost though cling fast to an existence so short and so filled with suffering? What is the meaning of thy struggle?
The man who did not know how to answer this question would resign himself, while another, one who sought a meaning of existence, feeling that God had been unjust, would challenge his own destiny. It was at this moment that fire of a different type descended from the heavens – not the fore that kills but the kind that tears down ancient walls and imparts to each human being his true possibilities. Cowards never allow their hearts to blaze with this fire; all they desire is for the changed situation to quickly return to what it was before, so they can go on living their lives and thinking in their customary way. The brave, however, set afire that which was old and, at the cost of great internal suffering, abandon everything, including God and continue onward.
Only those men and women with the sacred flame in their hearts had the courage to confront Him. And they alone knew the path back to His love, for they understood that tragedy was not punishment but challenge.
The essential point was this: to have a name. When Jacob had answered, God had baptized him Israel. Each one has a name from birth but must learn to baptize his life with the word he has chosen to give meaning to that life.
Excerpt from The Fifth Mountain by Paulo Coelho…
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