I came to a realization today.

It happened somewhat unexpectedly. I was watching an episode of one of my favorite TV shows, when one of the characters made a speech. Somewhere in that speech, these words came up:

God gave us free will, for good or for ill.

It is the thing that seems to be the most prevalent thing about God, in that He gave us free will. Free will to choose what we will, whether it is a life of good, or a life of evil.

Like the relationship of parents to their children, it is difficult for a parent to give up a child into the world. I remember my mother crying during the Mass we attended on my first day of College. It struck me then how hard it must be for her, letting go of a son she had given birth to, nursed in sickness, argued with, fed, and guided. Yet she did let go of me. She gave me to the world, and let me free to make my own choices.

For God, the pain my mother felt is amplified to every living creature and molecule in creation. Everything is God’s child, and letting us go to make our own choices is a painful and heartbreaking experience. For children may make the right choices and end up in the career or life they wish to be, or they may make the wrong choices and end up in jail.

Despite whatever choices they may make, God, like parents, can never know which direction their child will go. Yet if they love them, they will let them have free will.

God gave us free will, for good or for ill.