No Equivalent

The rising generation of women is getting tired of the bad rap girls take for being girls. Every woman alive knows the frustration of being dismissed by men with "it must be that time of the month." What makes them think the only reason we have an issue is because of that? Girls in my daughter's generation are striking back. Princess Dawdle and her friends have a new phrase for their guy friends who are acting moody or generally emo.

"He's on his man period."

Her father overheard her talking about it and apparently found it somewhat offensive.

Kevin: What?!

Princess Dawdle: When he gets all bossy and emotional, we say he must be on his man period.

Kevin: I don't think that translates to a man. There's no equivalent in men to a period. Is there something like that in men that doesn't translate to women?

Me: Yes. There's no female equivalent to a man's, "I'm not thinking anything."

Princess Dawdle: What? That's not possible. How can you not be thinking anything?

Me: Either they aren't really thinking anything or they're just saying that to get us off their backs.

Kevin: No! Really! We aren't thinking about ANYTHING!

Every couple alive knows this disparity in male and female brains. Men and women just don't function the same way.

It makes me think of God and the way He works, not at all like humans. His plan doesn't always make sense. The path He lays out for us is often strewn with pain and we don't get it. We wonder what He could possibly be thinking. We doubt Him and our disappointment breeds distrust. How could a God who loves us let us suffer like we do sometimes? We forget a fundamental truth.

There's no human equivalent for God.

Of COURSE it won't make sense to us! How can it?! His ways are higher than ours. He sees the whole picture. He knows what is required to make us more like Him. We have nothing except our own minds to compare Him to and we know ourselves and our flaws. We can't fathom a different way of thinking.

"Who is my equal?” asks the Holy One.

Isaiah 40:25

No one is His equal. No one. So the next time you find yourself questioning God's goodness, the next time you're tempted to think you're forgottten, remember it's not God sticking it to you. You just aren't gettin' it. You can't. You have nothing or no one to compare it to. He has no equivalent.

Seek the Lord while you can find him.
Call on him now while he is near.
Let the wicked change their ways
and banish the very thought of doing wrong.
Let them turn to the Lord that he may have mercy on them.
Yes, turn to our God, for he will forgive generously.

“My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts,” says the Lord.
“And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine.
For just as the heavens are higher than the earth,
so my ways are higher than your ways
and my thoughts higher than your thoughts.

Isaiah 55:6-9

Photo Credit: Trey Ratcliff