I am a dreamer. I was born this way and there is absolutely nothing I can do about it! I guess it is in my DNA although I am not sure there is anything particularly scientific about it.

There are other ways to describe this aspect of myself. Some people call me  idealistic; others say I am living in a fantasy world, or more specifically, “don’t live in the real world”.  I love fairy tales, happy endings and avoid depressing, sad stories like the plague. My favorite channel is the Hallmark channel, my regular MO is to believe the best in people, most of the time, and my expectation is that “everything will turn out great in the end”.  

But alas, life isn’t like that is it? Life is anything but a “fair -y” tale and things are not always happy. People are not always kind and sometimes life is very, very sad. What is a girl like me to do with this truth? While I can avoid sad movies, I can not avoid real life. In fact, despite my usual penchant for all-things-happy, I have found myself slipping into a more negative frame of mind a little too much lately. I guess it is because if you live long enough, you begin to recognize that real life is often filled with discouragement, disillusionment, disappointment and despair, that everything isn’t “coming up roses” and all clouds “do not have a silver lining”! This reality has caused me to even become a little cynical about people and situations around me. I don’t like this new tendency in myself which has led me to seek some counsel, not from a human counselor though, although that is not a bad thing, but from my God – His word along with His Spirit leads me to truth, and truth is what I need to fight this negativity that is lurking around me.  

While the Bible is filled with one story after another of saints who have walked through the storms of life and found God faithful, the gospels give the words of Christ as He prepared His disciples to live life after He leaves them. He even tells them that life will not be “fair”; people will not be “kind”, and yet, despite this, He tells them to rejoice! 

In chapter 14 of John, Jesus tells his disciples,“Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.” (John 14:1-3) These words clearly suggest that there will be problems on the horizon, but no need to be “troubled” (agitated or distressed). Why? Because He will be coming back for them; because He is going to get their homes ready and will be coming back! 

He goes on in chapter 15 to tell them they will suffer persecution because they belong to Him and again in chapter 16 He stresses that things are going to get bad when He is gone! But, in the middle of all of the talk of persecution, sadness…, He stresses that it will be OK. Not just OK but actually, great. It is for your GOOD that I go, because when I am gone, the Holy Spirit will come and help you. In fact, “your grief will turn to joy.”(John 16:20) He wraps up this time with the disciples by leaving them an important truth that will help them face all the negativity that will come their way: “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33) In chapter 17, Jesus clarifies the reality of His followers future in this poignant prayer: “I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world. My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of it.” (John 17:14-16)

This is it! This is how I face the reality of an unfair world that doesn’t seem to offer a storybook ending? The truth that is loud and clear is I don’t “belong to this world”!  Jesus told us that “this world” would be unfair, depressing, unkind..but my home is not here! My home is with Him who overcame the world! 

This world is broken. Because of sin, the “story” isn’t always happy, but because of Jesus’ death and resurrection, the future is beyond my comprehension! No doubt better than my mind can imagine. Jesus knew His disciples would need this truth after He was gone, and 2000 years later, this disciple needs it too! I can not let this world get me down! I can’t stop believing the best in people, looking for the good in situations or living with a  hopeful optimism! I have to stop looking at THIS world, as my home and recognizing that true joy is living in the assurance that life in Christ means there is ABSOLUTELY a “happy ending”!