Last week, I woke up with the urge to play Into the Unknown by Panic! at the Disco. You may know of the song as part of the Frozen 2 soundtrack, and if you do not know the song, feel free to search it out and listen! In the moment, I did not think of why I felt the need to listen to the song. But as I jammed out to the song on repeat, I realized that I will soon be jumping into the unknown in a variety of ways.
As a seminary intern, my time at Lord of Life is limited, so I have been tasked with looking ahead. My fiance and I went to Cleveland not only for summer vacation, but to try on the city and see if it would be a great fit for our next move, and for us to lay down some roots. I can now say that I love the Great Lakes, and that I can see us in the Cleve. But will I end up in Cleveland? Maybe. Though I loved my stay, my first call could be anywhere, which is a little terrifying. Upon returning to work, I had to renew my apartment lease with a firm end date, which meant I had to figure out a precise end date for my internship with Lord of Life. Cleveland or someplace else is arriving quickly.
Similarly, I’m getting married in a year. I heard from somewhere, “marriage isn’t the end of a love story, but is the beginning of a new story.” Though exciting and full of blessings, I’d add that marriage is the beginning of a mysterious journey! I find joy in the knowledge that my life will be deeply intertwined with my fiance’s, as scripture says “two become one.” But I’m also aware that we don’t say “with you for better or worse” because we know how the journey will play out. We have ideas, but we say those words in the knowledge that marriage can take us to some unexpected places.
I suppose it’s no wonder how I can easily jam out to Into the Unknown. I’ll be diving into the unknown a lot. Into the unknown is life. I can see myself jumping into the unknown in the near future, but life spontaneously pulls us into the unknown all of the time, in the most exciting, joyful, terrifying, and heart-wrenching ways.
Being cognizant of the unknown as part of life’s reality pushes us to prepare for the unexpected. It also calls us to be cautious. In excess, if you’re a fan of certainty and predictability, it can be paralyzing as you may prolong decision-making in order to stay where you are. But if you can sit with the full reality of the unknown in your brain, think of all the joys and sorrows it may bring, Christ’s lesson in Matthew 6 becomes deeply relevant.
“Can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life? And why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin.” Matthew 6:27-28. I don’t think Jesus speaks of the lilies to say God will always provide and you will have zero scarcity- a common ethos behind the vague “God will provide.” Christ knows of scarcity, pain, and suffering in the world. Rather, Christ is aware that there is much in life that we cannot foresee. Jesus knows that “unknown” and “life” are synonymous. We cannot run or hide from the unknown, thus, we must accept it as a part of life.
Jesus’s lesson ends with, “So do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of its own. Today’s trouble is enough for today.”-Matthew 6:34. Will my career path take me back to my old Kentucky home, or drop me into a cool city like Cleveland? I hope so, but I don’t know. Technically, it could take me to Alaska. Perhaps I’ll get lucky and end up in the US Virgin Islands. Will Justin and I have the most blissful marriage with no internal or external struggles to ever weigh us down? Doubtful. Will one of us die unexpectedly and the other be left as a young widower? Also doubtful (thank God), but technically not impossible. All possibilities play out in my head.
So I accept the unknown, unforeseeable, and unpredictable as a reality of life. Without acceptance, life would be stagnant at best, as I would be reluctant to move forward in life. So I take a deep breath and step forward. Or as Dory says in Finding Nemo, “just keep swimming.” The lilies do not stop growing in anticipation that soil erosion or drought will wipe them out. They simply grow as the blessings of God shine the sun’s light on them, and the clouds provide nourishing rain for them. Life is day by day. So is ours as we cannot see beyond tall hills and windy curves. I’d also add that though life is unpredictable if we take a step back and look at the vast expanse of God’s creation, it ultimately lives into resurrection.
Taking a deep breath, stepping into the unknown, keeping on swimming,
Pastor Alec Brock, Seminary Intern (he, him, his)