#and i legit wondered if we had a free Britney situation on our hands with that dude

[littlestickfish]

I did not have enough space in the tags to fully elaborate, but I believe that free will is a thing, and it is a thing that is distinct from the influence of divine spark, or what one might otherwise describe as divine will, and these things can and should exist together.

And it isn't exclusive to people who are put in your path for spiritual growth either, like the examples in my tags, sometimes it's just to empower you to bring something helpful to someone else.

1. Act of will (my dad): texts me asking to grab lunch

2. Act of will (me): yes

3. Act of will (my dad): tells me in a random conversation about coffee* about kittytowncoffee.com, which sells coffee benefiting rescue cats

4. Act of will (somebody on tumblr): posts bongo.cat

5. Act of will (somebody I follow): reblogs bongo.cat

6. Act of will (my brother): texts me to let me know his kitty of several years has died

7. Relevant helpful acts of will now available to me: commiserate, buy him a bag of coffee that just so happens to be titled after a cat with the same name** as a memorial, text him bongo.cat

*(bonus hidden act of will: my participation in the Starbucks boycott, prompting me to learn how to make coffee my own damn self)

**(bonus bonus hidden act of will: somebody at Kittytown Coffee deciding Sydney was a cat name worthy of its own coffee blend)

The divine confluence of these myriad decisions has no bearing on our capacity to make them by ourselves. Rather, it serves to maximize their effect. This function, this influence, and the direction of it - a loving, growing direction - is divine love in action.

please do elaborate in the tags