NEW YEAR: I Don’t Need To Know The End Before I Begin
Richard Leslie Parrott, Ph.D.
I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.
(Philippians 3:12)
“Press on to take hold of that…” I don’t know the whole of “that,” but I know who took hold of me – “for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.” I don’t need to know the end of the book before I start reading. I don’t need to know the end of the mystery before I start watching. If we had to know the ending before we begin, we would all remain in our mother’s wombs.
The issue is not that we don’t know the end, but having a support system to see us through. There is an old and tender story of a little girl who was late coming home from school. When her mother asked her to explain her whereabouts, she replied, “My friend Sally broke her doll and I had to stay and help her cry.”
We cannot see the end of the journey, but we can see the people who cry, laugh, struggle, believe, and wait with us. We can see the people that cheer us on. We can see the people who support and care for us. This is the point and purpose of Christian friends and spiritual soul mates, “Were two or there are gathered in my name, there am I” (Matthew 18:20). Jesus has promised, when we support one another, “there am I.”