What lies behind us or what lies before us are small matters when compared to what lies inside us.Ralph Waldo Emerson

Dear Governor Palin: God’s Will or Yours?

Isn’t there a difference between divine and human wills and if so isn’t it easy to fool ourselves?–Dear Governor Palin: During your interview with Greta Van Sustren you mentioned your faith and the fact that if god opens a door a little, you won’t mind pushing through it. I’m writing because I am not clear as to your understanding of the divine will. Was it His will you run as vice-president on the Republican ticket? His will you run for governor? And if one reads between the lines correctly maybe His will that you run for president in 2008 or 2012? How do you know the difference between what you as Sarah Palin want and what god wants? It seems that is a line of thought President Bush engaged in before deciding to go to war in Iraq. Mohammed Atta believed he was following god’s will on 9/11. It is so easy to fool oneself. To me, the more serious one is about one’s spiritual practice the more the issue comes up. Perhaps you have also found it so.
You have the right to run for anything you want to or can, but implying, or believing, or assuming that it is the will of god may or may not follow, may or may not reflect that higher will. If my concern has any relevance, I hope that between now and the time you decide when and for what to run, that it is a difference that will be so clear to you–not in terms of a phrase or a string of words to justify your decision to the public, but as an act of private humility, and ultimately also as one of integrity.