Uncertainties make our lives challenging but worth living

One of the perplexing aspects of life is its uncertainties. We cannot see over the hills or around the corners. We are not permitted to know what each new day will bring.

Will it bring a crisis we cannot handle, a personal illness or the death of a loved one, the loss of employment and financial security, or the rupture of a relationship? Thousands have lost their jobs and financial worries mount.

We can understand why depression and worry are increasing in our land.

Now we are at war. What will the future hold for our beloved nation?

We pray for our leaders and accept whatever responsibilities are ours. But there are so many uncertainties, so many unknowns.

Early in my life I lamented the uncertainties with which I had to live. I wanted more assurance of a positive outcome, more freedom from fear and apprehension of what tomorrow might bring.

Today, like every other human being, I long for certainties in many areas of life, but I have come to see the wisdom of the Creator's plan.

The longing for certainty and repose is in every human mind. But certainty is generally illusion and repose is not the destiny of humans.

I have come to see that it is uncertainty that brings zest, excitement and challenge to life. We discover that when life is too sure, too secure we will voluntarily do something to add to its elements of doubt and mystery. We will even play games, if need be, to put some excitement into our days.

Who would play, and who would care to be a spectator, if everyone knew before the game began how every move would be made and what the final score would be?

The adventure in a game is in uncertainties and unpredictabilities.

If excellence were guaranteed in every school examination, if success were automatically promised when one undertook a profession, if exquisite happiness were assured in every marriage, or if a "yes" answer were pledged to every prayer, how drab and unexciting life would be. Where would be the challenges, the joy of victory or the lessons of defeat?

The ultimate question that a human might like to have answered would be the nature of life beyond the grave.

There is wisdom and faith in the comment of the 10-year-old girl who said that she did not want to know what the future would be like. She always loved surprises.

Will Rogers was not only an incomparable humorist, but one who revealed great common sense in living his daily life. He met uncertainties and planned for the future as wisely as he knew how and did not worry about possible ills or misfortunes that might await him. True contentment and happiness, Rogers believed, came in doing each day's work with cheerfulness and confidence, and going to bed with no lingering worry. "Never let yesterday use up too much of today," he often counseled.

He believed it is intelligent to have a reasoned concern for the future, but that inviting trouble and crossing bridges before we come to them is a fruitless exercise.

One day a friend dolefully inquired, "Will, if you had but two days to live, how would you spend them?" The cowboy philosopher laughed and replied, "one day at a time, my friend, one day at a time."

Happily, we do not move into the future alone. No matter what our need, there will usually be someone near to lend a hand. Family, friends, doctors, nurses and others come to help us if we are disabled by infirmities. If we encounter other problems, counselors can offer guidance.

God's love comes to us through other human beings. We are not orphans in an empty world. God may not will all that comes to us in the days ahead, but the Creator will be present to uphold us and sustain us in whatever experience will be ours of joy or sorrow. The Scottish translation of Psalm 59:10 is a reassuring affirmation of God's care: "My God who is rich in loving kindness will meet me at every corner."

Thomas à Kempis once recorded a soliloquy in the quiet of his heart, which began with a fearful survey of the future. "Oh," he mused, "if only I knew I would hold out to the last." And his soul rose up and answered him with scorn. "Look back," it cried, "has God ever failed you in the past?" "No." "Don't you know that the same God who has been, and who is evidently sufficient, will be with you every step to the end, always as gloriously present for you then as now."

We can often find strength for our uncertainties and direction for our lives and be lifted by the faith and wisdom of the poets and seers.

They allay our fears of the morrow and give us faith for each day's living:

If you stand very still at a
difficult hour
And wait for a silence within
you will be led in wisdom
and strength
Through a world of confusion
and din
If year after year you keep
inwardly still
God will give you the help
that you ask
In the silence He gives, you
will find what you need
His wisdom, His strength
for each task.
— Author unknown