If I Were a Book

Ever read a story or watched something and began to become fixated on knowing the 'spoiler point'? That impatient hunger to know the resolution to save the wait. The slight temptation to skip through the pages and cut straight to what you consider the 'important stuff'. Wondering how all the events at this point in the story even work out. 

Isn't that true with life sometimes? A situation that occurs which leads us straight into the desperation and hunger of wanting to know how it all works out. Will I meet that love of my life? Will I get that dream job? Will I ever have a child? Will I ever experience financial freedom? Will I ever overcome this diagnosis? Will I ever get over this difficulty in my life? Will things get better? So many of the more difficult questions that can at times challenge us to wonder where the answers lie. 

Like anyone else I do experience those moments myself, after all I am human. Contrary to what people will say, I firmly believe everyone goes through these moments at some point in their life. Everyone addresses a point of challenge so strong, a large amount of faith and pure grit is required to see through it. I believe we are never the same person once we have journeyed through this experience or experiences. 

Here are five reasons why I feel knowing the outcome (or going straight to the last chapter) isn't always the wisest idea: 

1. When you read every page in the novel, you receive important keys to unlock the answers you need. 

As you encounter a situation you either receive a question, answer or clue. This might be through situations, people, objects or places. Like the pages of a novel, the answer might be right under our noses or we need to 'read on' and discover further. Some pages don't make sense right away, but as the story unfolds, clarity is present. 

2. You will never appreciate the worth and importance of everything in-between.

Every page has it's place and significance. Every moment has significance to some degree. Maybe your life changes through meeting someone, or you are given an opportunity to develop in a gifting or maybe it's a time of rest and recuperation for a big journey ahead. Don't discount what could be possible in your life because it seems like nothing is happening on your page right now or the page is so cluttered you're ripping your hair out.  That page is an opportunity to understand something bigger is at play with more to come in the story.... You just have to believe it! 

3. There is more to the story than you think.

If you flick straight to the end, maybe there was a significant change that makes no sense to where you are right now. Stories are full of plot twists and dramatic transitions. Complexities make the story become more engaging to the reader. Even though the story can sometimes be complex, the simplicity of unwavering faith in understanding there is a narrator more powerful writing the coolest story imaginable. 

4. Your character and faith will never grow.

Situations happen to build an aspect of our character and faith. We were created to evolve and grow into a better version of ourselves. We were created to encounter things that 'stop us in our tracks.' If everyone got the answers the results straight away I believe we would hold ego over faith and never truly appreciate what is in front of us. Another way I love to look at it is: 'if there were no caterpillars, there would be no butterflies.'

5. The last page is just an end product of what came before.

The journey has as much, if not more, weight than the destination.  Every single moment is just one connector which links to a bigger picture. Imagine if we stopped reading a book because we didn't like the direction the story was going... How will we ever know the potential of how it's going to end? Will we appreciate and understand the intricacies of every challenge and victory the story provides? There's something cool about knowing there's an awesome narrator writing the most incredible and adventurous story about each of us with an amazing ending worth reading towards. Continue to enjoy the story and have faith in the journey it has to offer.