Happy Endings

Of all the fiction books I’ve read, they all have had happy endings. Of course! No one wants to read unhappy endings. At the points in the story when certain characters are in trouble or difficulty, we can reassure ourselves that somehow this is all going to work out, because all good fiction stories do. We simply wait to see how the plot unfolds.

In the real world, it often seems that happy endings are so far out of reach, for our own lives, those around us, or the world at large. Our hearts can become so very weary in waiting for the “peace on earth” that was promised that first Christmas. But there is hope in the waiting…

Long ago, Jesus busted onto this weary world with something called hope in His bosom. And then He grew up to carry hope in his outstretched arms. Imagine Him standing before you now, eyes wide and warm and tuned-in to you and your un-okay circumstances. I can promise you this: He knows things we don't, and He is the Maker of happy endings that are better than any you’d find in a Hallmark Christmas movie. – Jennifer Dukes Lee – Facebook post, December 15, 2023.

If we find ourselves in a difficult place in our own stories, we may wonder why God doesn’t bring resolution. Walk long enough in the faith life and we learn that God’s ways are much higher than ours and we begin to see that the Author of our stories can be fully trusted to work things out in the best way possible for the best happy ending.

And God’s happy ending is not fiction or fairy tale, but is certain and true, and is already written, right there in the last pages of the God’s story: I heard a loud shout from the throne, saying, “Look, God’s home is now among his people! He will live with them, and they will be his people. God himself will be with them. He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever.” Revelation 21:3-4 NLT.

In the meantime, God didn’t leave us to fend for ourselves. Centuries before the first Christmas, the prophet Isaiah proclaimed, “Look! The virgin will conceive a child! She will give birth to a son and will call him Immanuel (which means ‘God is with us’). Isaiah 7:14 NKJV.  It can be hard to imagine God wanting to be with us, but all we have to do is look at the cross, and see what price he paid so that we can be with him forever.

If we haven’t yet bridged the gap between the cradle, the cross and the empty tomb, it’s not too late.

Joy to the world, the Lord is come! / Let earth receive her King; / Let every heart prepare Him room, /And heav’n and nature sing… -Issac Watts, 1719

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