Turning Out

Things don't always turn out like you had hoped they would. Little things. Big things. Little things,which may not seem small at the moment but they are, turn out wrong. "Darn (or something similar), the meringue didn't turn out! The egg whites must have been too cold."  "Shoot, the divinity didn't turn out! Too humid I guess." Little things....

There are bigger things, much bigger that don't turn out.
    -The marriage. "But they seemed so in love. I wonder what went wrong?" Love is not the best base for marriage. It's a better outcome or by-product. Marriages are better grown in the deep soil of trust planted liberally with the seeds of commitment. But no one told them that and the marriage didn't turn out.
    -The job. "I thought I'd finish my career there but they laid off nearly everyone with twenty or more years. They said age and seniority didn't have any thing to do with it, just the economy. I'm fifty one, what do I do?"            
    -The body "I was going to hike all the major trails in the mountains. Now, I've got to replace both knees. I can do some, but not much. The expenses are worse than I thought too. I guess I'll have to find something else to do." The list goes on, and gets worse... the chemo...the stroke...the grand kids in Timbuktu and you're in Peoria...the bankruptcy... the funeral. Life  rarely turns out like we thought it would.  Who knew?

Maybe we all should have. I was stuck in traffic in Joshua, TX after an accident and looked to the side of the road. There was a home doubling as a business. It was for psychic readings. Madame Somebody. Out into the psychic's yard wanders a man with long, stringy hair wearing a Speedo bathing suit, but most of it was covered by the belly hanging over it. He proceeds to mow the yard in his flip-flops with a beer in one hand and pushing the mower with the other. It was an odd sight at 9 AM. If he were Madame Somebody's husband or boy friend, she should have seen that coming. But she didn't or couldn't. Things don't always turn out like you thought, even if you're a psychic.

Things not turning out is a product of a fallen world where there is evil, wrong, selfishness, and other people who don't always want what we want. We know that, halfway expect it, but we think with hard work, good education, and useful experience our world will turn out. Mostly it does, but not everything and sometimes its the big things that get us. Some people lower their expectations and let luck or laziness, or lousy timing grind them like grist. But I have noticed that a lot of people, when things don't turn out, keep at it. They keep going in some direction hoping the next thing, even if it's a smaller thing will work out better. The guys who loses his job keeps looking for another one. He finds one not in his field, but he works it, learns it, makes a living. The woman whose body betrayed her can't climb the alps, she works hard at climbing the five steps at the rehab center. She makes progress and redefines her life. Plan A didn't turn out, she works on Plan B. It happens with marriages, hobbies, jobs, retirements, churches, bodies, and even meringue. Who knew humans could be so resilient? Who knew they could keep on hoping? Why do they keep trying to bounce back in the dull light of dashed dreams and faded glory? Who knew broken humans could dream again, hope again, live again?

The One Who made them.

"He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end." Ecclesiastes 3:11. "Being confident of this, that He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus." Philippians 1:6

The owner of the Best Exotic Marigold Hotel  movie would tell his customers "everything will be all right in the end, if it is not all right, it is not the end." That is not always true in life. Things don't always turn out. But it  is true in the Kingdom of God. His word promises it, His character guarantees it. That is hope.

Still turning,
Cos