The End is What We Want

I have seen a truth realized in life that makes me shudder. It is a reality that is frightening and stark. In the end, we will have the reality for which we petitioned. The canvas of our lives will be painted with the strokes of our choices and the final portrait will be exactly what we wanted.

The End of a Long Road

I have seen this countless times as I have lived around people. I’ll share with you some examples. I knew of a lady who all of her life refused to see the truth around her. It was just too painful to face. It was easier to simply blink it out, rather than look at it. Her family, her husband, her kids, her own heart—all of them were ‘just fine’ rather than real.

In this woman’s mind she didn’t have an alcoholic husband because she refused to acknowledge it. Her children weren’t troubled coming from such a home; they were just experiencing ‘growing pains.’ And she wasn’t shallow and out of touch, she was just an optimist. At the end of this woman’s life, she came to the place where she literally didn’t know anything. She didn’t want to know the truth, so then she was unable to know anything with dementia. Not that dementia is always the fruit of this principle, but I question whether this state reveals her choices to not know. Lord Jesus, have mercy on us for the choices we make!

There’s another woman I once knew who absolutely refused her responsibilities. She had many children and at a certain point she said, “I am done!” Her husband and older children would have to pick up the slack for her irresponsibility. She never cooked another meal, changed another diaper, or mopped another floor. She was done with her responsibilities. Her end was the mental illness of Alzheimer’s. She died an early death with the inability to have any responsibility, even of her own care. Again not always the fruit of this principle but one has to question. Son of David, have mercy on us!

A Man at The End

Lastly, I knew a man who hated his life and responsibilities. He resented everything from the lawn to his job. Everything was an imposition and an inconvenience, even his own wife, children and grandchildren. His end was a struggle and strain that was an unbearable inconvenience. He suffered from a debilitating disease where everything was completely, literally unbearable. His own body fought the fight he set in place against himself.

The End of the Story

I don’t set these examples forth as a judgment on these individuals; I fear God too much to mock them like that. The fruit of each of their lives has been, for me, more like the power of King Saul’s life: to see how not to live and which paths to avoid. These lives have been posted as object lessons and living parables, like the warning beacon of a lighthouse, signaling sojourners where to avoid the rocks!

Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.
Gal 6:7 KJV

Whenever I saw those who plowed wickedness and planted misery, they gathered its harvest.
Job 4:8 GWT

In my next post I will give the Rest of the Story…