Our Stories
For we know only in part, and we prophesy only in part; but when the complete comes, the partial will come to an end. When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; when I became an adult, I put an end to childish ways. For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then we will see face to face. Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known. And now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love.
1 Corinthians 13:9-13
Friends,
Last week in my blog I referred to John Steinbeck’s novel, East Of Eden. I refer to the it again. Toward the end of the novel, Abra and Cal are having a conversation. Abra speaks to Cal
“I’ve tried to figure it out. When we were children we lived in a story that we made up. But when I grew up the story wasn’t enough. I had to have something else, because the story wasn’t true any more.” … “Wait—let me get it all out. Aron didn’t grow up. Maybe he never will. He wanted the story and he wanted it to come out his way. He couldn’t stand to have it come out any other way.” - Steinbeck, John. East of Eden (p. 575). Penguin Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.
One of Steinbeck’s themes in East Of Eden is about how people live with stories that turned out to be different than they imagined our thought.
What were your stories when you were younger? What are your stories today? How do you live with the differences?
1 Corinthians, chapter thirteen is known as the ‘love’ chapter. It states: “Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. (1 Corinthians 13:4-7)
But often overlooked are the words which follow: “For we know only in part, and we prophesy only in part; but when the complete comes, the partial will come to an end. When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; when I became an adult, I put an end to childish ways. For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then we will see face to face. Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known.” (1 Corinthians 13:9-12)
These words remind us we don’t know how our stories will turn out!
But that is not a reason for despair. We only see the story as we experience it. When the story does not meet our expectations, God is taking care of us.
There is a simple bumper sticker phrase I quote way too often, “We don’t know what the future holds, but we know who holds the future.”
Maybe it might go this way, “We don’t know how our stories will end, but we know the author of our stories.”
How is your story going?
Peace
Ricky Adams
Pastor
Peace Lutheran Church
Mill Valley, California