Turning pages

John A. Braun

Our lives are a succession of pages filled with many events and people. At the beginning of each year we turn to a blank page and stare at it, wondering what might fill in the space when it’s time to turn once more to a new blank page.  

We also look at the page that is filled with yesterdays. A review of our photos can help us remember happy events with family and friends. The smiles on their faces bring a smile to our own faces as we remember. Yet a pause to linger over a few of those photos can bring back heartaches too. 

Looking back is easy but perhaps not always pleasant. Life’s joys are on those past pages—births, weddings, the hugs, and happy times—but so are the dark times Depression and weariness cloud some of those joys. Tears that ran silently down our cheeks are not in the photos but are in our memories. The dark, sleepless worries are there too. And it’s not only that the worries kept us awake in the dark, but they sometimes didn’t sleep or go away even in the sunshine.  

Tracing a finger down the events of the past, we may pause at the long winter, the summer storms, and the fall leaves announcing the return of winter. Hurricanes, fires, floods may not have visited nearby, but we still can see the troubles and hardships they brought for others far away. We have recorded personal trials on the page at odd angles because they did not come neatly according to our plans. Instead they unexpectedly interrupted routines and charted oblique changes of direction for our lives. 

Some can touch the outline of a trial by running a hand over the scar left behind. But for others the scar is much deeper and hides inside where no one but they can still sense what it left behind. We hope turning the page will be successful at sending the unfriendly events into hiding. We anticipate that as a new page opens, new pleasant events will fill the empty page, leaving no room for the unpleasant.  

There is one thing we should not miss on the old, messy page. Somewhere you should see a promise. I’ll describe it as a small little boat in the corner of the page. The boat appears, almost overcome by a storm, and a single figure stands in it. He has his arms outstretched, and he says, “Quiet! Be still!” (Mark 4:39). Christians have included many of his promises on the pages of their lives. Those promises matter because they come from the One who loved us enough to suffer and die so we could be his children. He promises to care for us when we are weary and when we are joyful. 

I think sometimes we can’t see the promises so clearly. The storms—and the joys and accomplishments too—distract us. We may even miss them when we review past events. But the promises are there. We sometimes ignore them and just turn them into fine print on the page.  

A new page awaits. We have all added a few lines to the page already. I suggest we add a promise at the top: “Do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand” (Isaiah 41:10). You may prefer another promise. There are so many. The cross of Jesus assures us of his boundless love no matter what we must enter on the pages of our lives.  

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John Braun is executive editor of the Forward in Christ magazine.

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Author: John A. Braun
Volume 106, Number 1
Issue: January 2019

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