"You have compassion and atonement for error and You do not destroy... You, God, never withdraw mercy from us..."( from Morning Song prayers)
I love these ideas. We have a tendency to blame God or ask God 'where were you when ___ (something bad) happened to us?' Yet, this prayer, we say it each morning, tells us that God has compassion and grants us atonement for our error and doesn't destroy us! How do we reconcile this? Many people say "it is God's Will" and I disagree with this statement. God's Will, as this prayer teaches us is: Compassion, Atonement, and Mercy as well as other things. This is not to say bad things don't happen (I have much experience in bad things happening), it is saying that a lot of bad things that happen to us happen because of other humans, not God! In fact, sometimes, if we do a root cause analysis, we find that we are the cause of bad things happening.
I am not saying that we are responsible for all tragedies- I am saying that many of the evils perpetrated upon us are caused by other humans, not God- as I understand this prayer. I also am saying: just as God shows us compassion and atonement, so too do we have to do the same to ourselves and others. This is not "airy-fairy" whitewashing of errors/wrongdoing- rather I believe it is still seeing the humanity of the perpetrator of evil/bad. To me, this means that I have to have compassion for those who harm me, while still protecting myself from further harm. I have to ask for Atonement from and give compassion to the people I have harmed. This is how I act as a Divine Need and Reminder. It is how I live up to the best of my Divine Image. It is not easy and each of us is capable of doing this.
1) How am I shirking my responsibility and the responsibility of others by saying "It is God's Will"?
2) When am I the root cause of error in my life and the lives of others?
3) What are the ways I live Compassion, Atonement and Mercy in my daily living?