When
I worked as a teacher, I taught my children to write and understand stories by
following three simple markers: the beginning, the middle, and the end. I
taught them that every simple story must begin with the Characters: “Once upon
a time, there lived so-and so.” The middle is where all the trouble happens:
wicked stepmothers, evil spells, dangerous adventures, and mysterious mysteries.
But the end is where all the stepmothers and mysteries and sadness work
together for good.
Take
a story like, Cinderella. What happened in the beginning? Cinderella lived with
her dad and they were very happy. The middle is where her dad died, and where her
wicked stepmother made her life miserable, but it all ended happily ever after.
We
all learned how to read simple stories when we were children, but we haven’t
learned how to live out the story that has been written for us. That story, much
like all the fairy tales, starts with the words, "In the beginning."
In
the beginning, there lived God, His Word and His Spirit. God created everything,
and it was good.
In
the middle, man and woman were tempted by the devil, did the wrong thing and
got kicked out of their perfect, beautiful home. They had to toil and struggle,
with no end to their suffering in sight…
And
here’s where we get stuck: in the middle. Things don’t look how we hoped they
would, in the middle. Life doesn’t go how we’d like it to, in the middle.
But
the story isn’t over yet.
Even
Cinderella's life didn't feel like a fairy-tale while she was living it: she
suffered multiple tragedies at a young age, worked for people who didn't
appreciate her, lived with family who didn't love her, made friends with
animals who didn't understand her, was stuck in the same routine every single
day, afraid to explore the big dreams in her heart, so broke she couldn't buy new
clothes, and watched the people around her show off their wonderful lives, while
she suffered.
If
Cinderella had gone to church and heard the pastor say, "You are blessed
with glorious riches in Christ Jesus!" She might have hissed and walked
out. Christ Jesus' riches certainly hadn't made life any easier for her; maybe
Jesus could swap His gloriousness for Stepmother's riches, instead.
You
see, the fact that Cinderella didn’t know that her happy ending was coming
didn’t change the fact that there was a happy ending. The fact that our lives don’t look perfect in
the Middle doesn’t mean the story has not been perfected.
And
that is real difference between real life and fairy-tales: we know how the story ends; to us it has been given to know these
mysteries! (Matthew 13:11) Jesus is the author and perfecter of our faith. He
is the Word by which we were created. He is the Writer of the story of our
lives. He has finished it, and He has told it to us.
Life
may not feel like a fancy ball, but we have something greater than a fairy
godmother to help us navigate our Middle; we have the Holy Spirit. So, in the
middle of your toughest moments, struggling and toiling and wondering if it
would ever end, remember that you already
know how this story ends. Your Happily Ever After is coming; it is already
written.
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First published on the Guiding Light Assembly blog.
