Joyful Transformation

Did you learn all of your parts of speech when you were in school? The easiest to remember for me are the adverbs. When, where, why or under what conditions seemed to be the basis for a lot of my conversation. When I was in the fifth grade we were studying some oblique concept and I kept asking my teacher “why”? I genuinely wanted to know. He (a first year teacher and only 25) was fed up with trying to answer me so instead he made me write the word “why” as many times as I could on the front and back of a page of paper. Unfortunately for all of those who came after him it did not squelch my inquisitive nature. (Nor did the paper he made me write on the Ice Age when I told him the concepts didn’t quite match up to what I had learned in Sunday School!).

I still struggle with wanting to know the “why” of everything. I think we become a little spoiled by TV mysteries and suspense novels. They always tie-up everything in the end in a neat little package and you finish thinking you KNOW everything.

Life is not like that. We can ask why all day long and never get a satisfactory answer. We must learn to accept that while on earth we will always only “know in part”. Frustrating for those of us who camp out on the adverbs, I know. But the faith that God is in control and has our best interest at heart keeps us going. Faith that one day he will reveal the whole story to us helps us rest and be at peace.

As we reflect on the happenings of this day four years ago, the hurricane of two weeks ago, or the ongoing tragedies we all face in our personal lives it is comforting to know that the God who loves us is in ultimate control. He will care for us, he will comfort us. Even when we can’t understand all of the “why’s” he will tenderly love us through the dark days ahead. Truly this is the source of peace.