Wrestling With God

We all wrestle. We struggle with God. Joan Chittister defines struggle well. "The process of struggle is the process of the internal redefinition of the self. People do it in the midst of a marriage that is failing on one set of expectations and in need of being renegotiated around others. People do it when the work they do ceases to be for them what they expected it to be. People do it when they find themselves locked out socially of the very places they want to be in life: in the midst of the dominant culture, in a position of power and authority, in a place of comfort and security. When our expectations run aground of our reality, we begin to rethink the meaning and shape of our lives. We begin to rethink not just our past decisions but our very selves. It is a slow but determining deconstruction of the self so that a real person can be reborn in us, beyond the expectations of others, even beyond our own previously unassailable assumptions. And struggle is its catalyst." "The Hebrew Testament story of Jacob wrestling with God is a model of the process." (Joan Chittister, OSB, Scarred by Struggle, Transformed by Hope: The Nine Gifts of Struggle)