Between Once Upon a Time and Happily Ever After

Unfortunately, divine moments typically live in between the sweet beginning and the happy ending. They exist between innocence and invincibility. In the midst of divine moments, we are simultaneously both our most powerful and most vulnerable selves. This messy in-between is the context our our lives. We do ourselves a disservice when every story has a happy ending in this life. It is far more important that there be a meaningful middle. Too often we are paralyzed in our fear of doing the wrong thing; and I cannot overstate the importance of moving forward with all the wisdom possible.

Yet, even Paul described his life as one where he saw through a looking glass dimly. He confessed that in this life he knew only in part. Too often we speak of God's will in shrouded terms. Our language betrays us. It is as if we long to know God's will, but God refuses to reveal it. He shrouds His will for our lives in mystery and then holds us accountable to discover it nonetheless. The kind of confidence that Jonathan [see my August 15th entry] displayed is built on the certainty that God moves through motivation far more than information. The information given to us in Scripture is there primarily for the purpose of spiritual formation. God never intended to give us a Book with every detail needed to live our lives. He gave us a Book with everything necessary to shape our lives. He was not trying to download Heaven's database, but to make us User-compatible. When God has our hearts, we move naturally in His will. The fuel for a life of faith is more inspiration than information. It is not zeal without knowledge, but it is certainly not knowledge without zeal.

Risk that God respects is fueled by a passion for His purpose and a willingness to subjugate our lives to His mission. Our prayers move from "God, what is Your will for my life?" to "God, what is Your will, and how can I give my life to fulfill it?" In the midst of this process, there is a great deal of imperfection. It may be difficult to understand, but we can do the wrong thing for the right reasons. And we can do the right thing for the right reasons and it come out the wrong way [at least from our vantage point]. All this is simply to say that Jonathan took a real risk that could have cost him his life, and in the same way our lives, when fully given to God, face similar possibilities.

It would be nice if all our stories had Cinderella endings where a handsome prince shows up and makes all our dreams come true. But in between "once upon a time" and "happily ever after" is called now. And in the now there are all kinds of failures we have to live with. Failure can change us, shape us, teach us and motivate us. Failure can be our friend. Failure is closely related to risk, which is closely related to success.