God is a Pillow.

A long time ago, as a young man, I spent some years working on oil tankers in the merchant marine. It was a crude existence, a rough adventure which, unless for somewhat dire financial reasons, only fools and hopeless romantics dare to embark on. But looking back I realize that those years and those experiences shaped my life in so many ways that even now, decades later, I still find myself surprised at how much that period of my life helped to form my own view of the world and its reality, of God and His power, and of my own inner workings and strengths.
I think seafaring is in some sense very much like mountaineering, or even farming, One is exposed to the beauty and majesty of nature which, though challenging, is also addictive and formative of character. One falls in love with the sea, with the mountains, or with the land, perhaps subconsciously, and  in spite of oneself. The saying is true that it takes a few years to put the sea in a man's blood, but it takes a lifetime to take it out.
Any good seaman will tell you that the sea must be navigated with prudence and respect, for in its power it can be a merciless and sometimes lethal enemy. The skill of a good captain is to let his ship be like a pillow, bending, twisting, and giving in to the forces of nature which, if resisted, will crush everything in their path. It is an art to sail a seagoing vessel safely through treacherous wind and waves, to help it gracefully peak and ebb with the raging surface of a storm powered sea. The ship, and her crew's safety, depends on her ability and willingness to be flexible and to adapt, to lose many battles in the hope of winning the war and making it back safely into port.
God so does with us, He is patient and flexible like a pillow, He allows us to impose our stubborn wills, He is willing to lose many battles with us hoping that one day He would win the war for our hearts. We know that He manages to win some wars but that He also loses some, Sadly hell speaks so eloquently to that fact, but in the end it is always our choice.
And we, like the Psalmist, ought to be grateful for God's great and infinite mercy towards us, "If You, Lord should mark our guilt, who would survive?" (Psalm 130). He does not behave like a wall with us, rigid and unbending, if He did He would crush us in a minute, we would not survive. But He is like a pillow, one can bump against a pillow and not get hurt, because it constantly gives in by changing its shape according to the forces imposed on it. I think the image of a pillow is a good image for God, if we only realize what this means. That this awesome and powerful God who "made the sea, it belongs to Him, the dry land too for it was formed by His hands." (Psalm 95.) is willing to bend His will and stoop down to this lowly creature who is man. St.Paul expresses this reality so beautifully in his letter to the Ephesians, "God, who is rich in mercy, out of the great love He has for us, even when we were dead through our sins, brought us alive together with Christ." (Eph. 2:4) We cannot even begin to imagine how much He loves us.
And where does this leave us? Love can only be repaid by love. We ought to respond with heartfelt gratitude by reciprocating His love with our love for Him and for our neighbour. And we too ought to be like pillows with those who oppose us, for so does He do with us.