Jordan Peterson once said: “Set your house in perfect order before you criticize the world.”
I think he’s absolutely right, and I don’t think he’s talking only about a physical structure. To me it hearkens back to the words of Our Lord: “Let he among you who is without sin cast the first stone.” (John 8:7)
We live in a world of complaining, name-calling, and finger-pointing. Just imagine what would be possible if all that energy and time and effort was spent developing ourselves and working to become truly exceptional, virtuous in the full and original sense of the word?
If I were at the point where my intellect, passions, and will were perfectly aligned to know what’s right, desire what’s right, and then choose what’s right day in and day out in my own life, is there anything I couldn’t achieve, with God’s help?
Well, that’s the goal. That’s what I’m striving for.
Our very first act of disobedience was followed by finger-pointing, and we haven’t quit since. “The woman You put here with me made me do it.” The only thing we don’t have control over is our knee reflex when the doctor taps it (do they still do that?) and the hurt of our (not-so) funny bone. We may not control circumstances, but we DO control our responses to them; and how we respond makes all the difference. And we will give the best response, internally and externally, to the degree that we let God be in control!