In many ways we get to choose our path in life. But it’s also true that life happens to us and we often find ourselves as members of a club we never applied for or ever wanted to belong to. While we didn’t ask for this, we must still learn to accept with faith the story that has been given to us to live.
For example, we didn’t choose our parents or the family we were born into. Nor do we choose to suffer the tragic death of a loved one or to be the parents of a special needs child.
And while we do have a choice in finding a marriage partner, there’s still no way to fully know all the personal baggage and hardships we’re signing up for. Even here it often feels like the marriage we have is not the marriage we signed up for.
Of course, it’s tempting to blame and seek to find fault in others when life is unfair and doesn’t turn out as we had imagined. And while we will naturally wrestle with many questions of why our story has to be this way, in the end, and after much grief, we must still learn to accept it for what it is.
This is not resignation or despair. In fact, by faith we trust God is still with us in the journey, providing us with what we need, and leading us ever deeper into his goodness and life.
We’re not living by faith when we demand perfect understanding or refuse to fully engage our story because it’s not what we asked for. We don’t have to like it, but it doesn’t change what is, and we still have the responsibility to faithfully live in the story God has given us.
While you’re faced with many things in this life you didn’t ask for, you still get to choose how you respond, and living by faith is still your best choice.
Photo by Adrian Swancar on Unsplash
