My Life is not a Television Drama

Life has been going really well lately, which should be a good thing. Right?

But, now and then, I find myself expecting some terrible thing to happen. Really terrible, such as one of the kids suddenly falling ill and being diagnosed with a terminal illness, Colin dying or losing someone else who is close to me.

It's weird.

I imagine, however, that some of you can relate.

Because like me, you've seen too many television dramas on stations like Lifetime. In the opening scenes life is beautiful: the people are beautiful; the dialog is beautiful; the music is beautiful; dang it, even the weather is beautiful!

Then it happens. An accident or a natural disaster. A disease or a death. The protagonists are thrown into the trials and it gets intense: the people are intense; the dialog is intense; the music is ... well, you get the picture.

Honestly, this is how I've been thinking about my life. In my mind it goes something like this: Things are just going too well. Really, life should be more difficult. Surely something awful will happen soon.

My husband is good to remind me, when I make some pessimistic comment, that God does give us blessings we can enjoy and He's not out to get us. He loves us; Jesus took on the punishment for all sin. I'm thankful for my husband's influence, because certainly, thinking like this reveals a flawed understanding of what it is to be God's child, His sheep, His beloved. For even when life is difficult, I can still trust him for my every breath and need.

In addition to unbelief, such thoughts also reveal how what you put in effects what comes out. My mom used to say (much to my annoyance, because I wanted to be free to enjoy the smut other kids were allowed to see and hear - now, I thank you mom!), Garbage in, garbage out. And Paul exhorts us to think about the good, pure, noble, excellent, praiseworthy things (Phil 4:8).

My life is not a television drama.

My life is under the precious care of God the Father, Son, and Spirit. Yes, surely a tragedy (or more) will come my way in this life - which until now, frankly, has been filled with ease - because we live in a fallen, death-filled world. But as King David said: All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be, Psalm 139:16. Neither the good times nor the bad times take God by surprise. He will see us through.

The main take-away point for me from all of this is to stay connected to God in prayer and through Scripture. If life isn't a television drama, or a tossing of the dice, then I need to get to the Truth to understand God and the world. Peter closes the final chapter of II Peter with these words:

Dear friends, this is now my second letter to you. I have written both of them as reminders to stimulate you to wholesome thinking. I want you to recall the words spoken in the past by the holy prophets and the command given by our Lord and Savior through your apostles.

May you stimulated to wholesome thinking in the coming days, friends!

Life is not a television drama. Praise! the!! Lord!!!