Life takes you by surprise. I was watching the film ‘The Bucket List’ with Morgan Freeman and Jack Nicholson. It’s a film about two guys in their sixties. Both have cancer and hear they have only one year to live. Instead of moping and slowly saying goodbye, they decide to live their lives to the max, as we would say in the nineties. I won’t spoil how the film continues, check it out if you want. Life took them by surprise. One day they are working, the next, they are in the hospital. One thing one of them notices is that if 45 years went by like smoke through a keyhole, how fast will 1 year go?
One day can make all the difference. When I look around at the people close to me, I see devastating changes that suddenly appear. Divorce, death, cancer, arguments, pain, loss of hearing, financial crash, traumatising events, job loss, the list is endless and all too real. Sometimes the devastating parts of life happen slowly over time. Figuring out you are still single at 40, recognising that your dream to become a mother will stay a dream, seeing your business fail more each year, loss of connection with your loved ones that happens over time, seeing the one you love marrying someone else. Also this list is never-ending.
The road ahead is empty, it’s paved, with miles of the unknown.
Whatever seems to be your destination, take life the way it comes, take life the way it is. (City to City)
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, and sorry I could not travel both. And be one traveler, long I stood, and looked down one as far as I could, to where it bent in the undergrowth… …Two roads diverged in a wood, and I, I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference. (Robert Frost)
We don’t know what hand we get dealt, we don’t know what others might do to us, what our bodies will do, or what mess we’ll get ourselves into. No one does. And even if you think you take ‘the road less traveled‘ and that your life will be different from the status quo… you can’t really know. No one can. But wherever you are, wether you are somewhere you like being or somewhere you hate it, try looking ahead. What influence do you have? Can you change your ways? Can you make amends? Can you forgive? Can you ask for forgiveness? And can you find peace?
I talked to a friend this morning, not a close friend, but an acquaintance-friend. His life suddenly changed some years ago and he is not in an ideal situation. But when we went our own ways, he emphasised that he relies on Gods grace. As for me, I am constantly aware that I need the grace of God to cover and heal me from my failures, sin, weaknesses and mistakes. My friend does that too, but what he meant was that he relies on Gods grace, even for the stuff he had no say in. Life is what it is, but knowing that God is gracious and that He loves you may change your perspective. God may intervene in your personal situation, or He may not. Remember that He did intervene on that cross and that if you keep looking and going to Him, everything will be alright in the end. Because He said so.
“This is how much God loved the world: He gave his Son, his one and only Son. And this is why: so that no one need be destroyed; by believing in him, anyone can have a whole and lasting life.”
(John 3:16 – MSG)
Recipes of Hope 
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