Wednesday, March 9, 2011

The Future: It's in the Cards (or Not)

Okay, I goofed yesterday. I did not remember what the One Word blog carnival was even going to be about, much less was I prepared to participate.   However, I have had some time to reflect on the word Future since yesterday.   Actually, I have been reflecting on it all weekend, I just didn't know it was the word for the blog carnival.
Saturday I saw Carmen in 3D.  I really enjoyed it.   Surprisingly, one of the scenes that stirred my imagination was the scene with the tarot cards.
Over and over she sees the omen of her death in the cards, even though she tries again....   It had me thinking about how much she further and further pushed Don Jose away after seeing that.   Did she push him away because, as the beginning of the story implies, she's just like that, or did she push him away because she saw him as an enemy in the cards?   Did he kill her in the end because he was an obsessive nutcase, or because he was told over and over again by her that he would?   Is the future really so set in stone, that it was just the way it was going to be no matter what she did?  Was she really better off "knowing" no matter which view one takes?

God makes it clear in Leviticus that he does not want us to go to fortune tellers and the like to find out our future.  He doesn't seem to like the business of fortune telling at all!   While I knew that while watching, I asked myself what I would tell someone who did not find Leviticus a convincing argument at all.  Would I shrug and say "Well I do!"  or would I explain.  What would I say?

At one time, I found the idea of knowing the future to be intriguing.  It was God's word in Leviticus that kept me from psychics.   Now, while I find Leviticus every bit as compelling,  I find in my heart that I do not even wish to know the future any longer.  I don't want to know that I get hit by a bus!  I don't want to spend my life wondering if I can avoid that bus, or if I am fated to be smashed by it.   I don't want to cross the street, and wonder if the bus is somewhere nearby unseen.  I don't want to ride a bus wondering if ironically I am reading the paper or conversing in the instrument that will be my death.

I don't want to live my life thinking about my death, but hoping that what I am doing, or will be doing next, will have some significance in the eternal design, even if it is a mere dot.   I can't do that avoiding buses... I'd rather have hope in the future than knowledge of it.

This post is being respectfully submitted to Peter Pollock's blog carnival.


If you were expecting a post about Lent today, click here.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

He's the same yesterday, today, and forever. He gives me a hope and future. Whatever He shows me is enough to bank on! Good reminder, Helen. Thanks.

a joyful noise said...

I enjoyed this post very much! Your remark was intriguing: "I don't want to live my life thinking about . . ." what someone might have predicted about my future. It certainly would create a lot of worry!! It is so much better to leave our future in God's hands.