This past weekend I finally finished reading a novel that I thoroughly enjoyed.  Well, up until the last chapter or two.  It’s not because the writing wasn’t superb or that the storyline itself wasn’t captivating (in fact, I happened to leave the book at my aunt’s house in NY for a month and had to restrain myself from jumping up and down when someone brought it to Miami for me and I could finish it). 

The ending bothered me because it didn’t wrap up the way that I thought it should.  I thought the characters should’ve had time to hash things out and that their situation could’ve ended on a semi-happy note.  I wanted them to have what I deemed to be a proper conclusion.

A good friend of mine who also read the book had to laugh at my reaction to the ending.  She chided me, “But it’s realistic!”  I rolled my eyes and threw my hands in the air.  “I don’t want realistic,” I yelled, “I want a happy ending.” We both were near the point of tears with laughing as I fussed with/about characters that don’t even exist.  But later that evening, as I reflected, I thought how interesting it all was.  In life, we don’t always get nice, neat endings.  Things get messy.  They get weird.  We don’t always get to wrap everything up in lace and ribbons and sigh with satisfaction.

People cause us pain.  They tear us up in irreparable ways.  Their words and actions are stones cast upon our lives and the ripples seem to go on and on, even after they have disappeared.  Sometimes they never apologize.  Never admit what they’ve done.  Yet and still, we are commanded to forgive.  Our forgiveness is not dependent upon how sorry they are.  It relies solely on obedience to God and our awareness of the fact that, although we might have sinned as they did, we are still sinners.

For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.

Matthew 6:14,15 NIV

For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard.

Romans 3:23 New Living Translation

Look at faith.  Some have us have just about begged God for things.  Trivial things like cars or houses, and perhaps not so trivial things, like healing and a longer life.  I deal with patients every day who have, at some point or other, asked that God spare their life from a terminal illness. Yet, as in scripture, despite immense faith, there are so many who never get the miraculous healing they wanted.

All these people died having faith. They did not receive the things that were promised, yet they saw them in the distant future and welcomed them, acknowledging that they were strangers and foreigners on earth.

Hebrews 11:13,14 (International Standard Version)

Things like faith and forgiveness aren’t always wrapped up nice and pretty.  Things get messy.  They get incredibly difficult.  But we hold on to faith, we pursue forgiveness, because there is a bigger picture; a bigger reason to fight through our feelings.  Even when you are tempted to hold on to unforgiveness, even when you feel angry that you’ve lost someone you love, remember that God is still sovereign.  You are never, ever forgotten.  Never, ever truly alone.  And the ultimate ending will be far greater than you could ever imagine.

You dance over me,

When I am unaware.

You sing all around,

But I never hear the sound.

How You love me.

Suggestion: I encourage you to read the chapters from which each scripture is taken, to get a better understanding.

Shari Grant is a Registered Nurse in South Florida, where she was raised in a (very!) Jamaican home. Some of the loves of her life are words (both reading and writing them) and missions work. She enjoys spending time with friends and family while living for a good laugh - one that makes her belly ache and her eyes water. Her bottom line goal in life is to make the Lord smile and maybe even serve Him up a chuckle from time to time, too.