My Dad
died last week.
I wish
I could say that I had a close, supportive relationship with him, but that was
not the case. In fact, there was a time
when I was so angry that I could not have cared less about him.
However,
in the midst of my anger I kept having to teach passages that said things like,
“You must rid yourself of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice and
slander… and clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness
and patience… forgive as the Lord forgave you!” (Colossians 3:8-13). Faith does not just apply on Sunday morning,
so I knew I had to change my attitude.
Over
time I have come to believe that my Dad probably did the best that he could
with the tools he was given. I even think
that we could have patched things up.
Unfortunately, neither one of us knew how to build that bridge.
Maybe
you are in a similar situation. Maybe you
wish that certain details of your life were different. Maybe you have spent a lot of time thinking
about the way things should have been.
If so,
it is good to remember that life comes to us as more of a storybook and less
like an instruction book.
Instruction books are neat and
tidy. Step two follows step one. At every point, you know exactly what to
do. There is no guessing. Everything is crystal clear.
Stories, on the other hand, are messy. Information comes in bits and pieces. Often, things do not make sense until after
the fact. Stories twist and turn and
almost never go in a straight line or on a predictable path. Fortunately, most stories have good parts and
good people. Sometimes, you just have to
look really hard to see them.
If you
are confused about your story and it seems like your fairy tale happy ending is
nowhere in sight, it helps to remember that you are also part of a bigger
story. This story says, “God so loved
the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall
not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16).
That
story can have a happy ending for anyone.
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