Article April 21, 2003 Issue

'The universal solvent of Love'

By J. Thomas Black

Probably most of us admit that a few things in life seem unsolvable. Things such as deep-seated failings and sicknesses. Certainly war. They are like adamants—or impenetrably hard substances that appear able to defy the best efforts of individuals and society to get rid of them. Yet I find when I'm patient and persistent, and not just stoically enduring, solutions open up.

For several years when I was young, my dad and I had a very tense relationship. Nearly everything either of us said or did antagonized the other. I was miserable, and he must have been, too. In efforts to improve the situation, we were not charitable, so those efforts were like smashing a block of granite with a hammer. They left jagged mental shards of resentment and self-justification all over the house.

Then one day I was so troubled over the situation that I reached out to God with a heartfelt humility. I simply asked Him how to solve this intractable problem. The message He gave me was simple. I needed to repent—in other words, radically change my thinking about both of us, taking a more spiritual view.