It's Only Scary When You Don't Know How It Ends

I overhear my children talk as they're watching a video.  It's one they've seen before, and they're coming to a suspenseful scene.

My five-year-old grows nervous.  "I don't want to watch.  This is scary."

"It's only scary when you don't know how it ends," my eight-year-old responds, matter-of-factly.  "You know that everything works out, so you don't need to be scared."

I'm sweeping the kitchen floor as she says this, and I mull over her words: "It's only scary when you don't know how it ends."

I've been fearful lately.  I have friends who are wrestling with profound problems and hurts: personal challenges, relational difficulties, financial setbacks, emotional struggles, and health issues.  My heart aches for them.  I face mountains of my own that drain my hope and energy, leaving me discouraged and weary.

I don't know how these situations will end -- any of them -- and it's scary.  I'm not prescient.  I can't peer into the future and know with certainty that they'll resolve satisfactorily.  My perspective is limited.

Yet, I do the one thing I know to do: I rest on the promises of God. 

I remember Jesus' invitation: "Come to me, you who are tired and weary, and I will give you rest."  I meditate on God's plans for our lives.  I cast my cares on the Lord, trusting that He will sustain me.

It's a strange paradox, perhaps.  On one hand, I don't know how these stories will end; on the other hand, I do.  Regardless of how particular circumstances unfold, "we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose."

God knows how our stories end, and He's promised to be with us always, even to the end of the age.  He's not scared.  I'll follow his lead.

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