It Ain’t Over Until the Fat Lady Sings

“It ain’t over until the fat lady sings.” This colloquialism cautions against assuming that the current state of an event is irreversible or that it is clear how or when the event will end. I have been five years into retirement and well nigh into my twilight years. Yet, I still wake up each morning filled with hope and excitement about the prospects of the new day. I always feel that the best day of my life is yet to happen. I have no inkling how all of this is going to end. I sometimes wonder where this sense of excited expectation comes from. It helps that I spend a few moments of silence and prayer at the start of each day.

For example, I read that the world started with one big bang in the beginning – one cataclysmic explosion that kept burning intensely. Out of the cinders and ashes of that explosion came the awesome galaxies that light up our skies and eventually the beautiful world in which we live in. It all started with one infinite point of light and that light exploded into reality as we see it today. And the explosions have not stopped. There is always something new happening in the universe.

Here one earth, the early times were also moments of tremendous explosions and chaos. From out of the chaos, came the debris and dust from which eventually were formed the mountains, the seas, the land and air. And when things got settled down, life emerged in its prodigal profusion: plants, trees, insects, birds, beasts and, at the perfect time, man himself. The bounty of the earth renews itself for from out of the detritus of anything that dies or is destroyed comes new life and even new lifeforms. Seeds die and new plants grow. Winter comes and eventually nature rises anew in spring. It is an endless cycle of life and living.

Closer to home, I do not know of any compelling reason why I should have come to be but I am here. For that alone, I am grateful. It has been a happy and beautiful life. There have also been many moments of pain and sorrow, of disappointment and anxiety. A life that is every moment happy would probably become very boring eventually. How many times have I come to realize that life is sweeter because of the bitter moments I had to go through? How many times have I discovered new kinds of happy because I had to go through new kinds of sad? And how many times have I learned that the hard bricks of disappointments and anxiety are the building blocks for the towers of joy that I have built? Every day brings me something new. Even the familiar has an unfamiliar tinge to it when seen in this light.

Peter was devastated when he realized how Jesus knew he would betray him when he needed him most. He could have gone and hanged himself like Judas. And so could have all the rest of the apostles. The crucifixion was the bitter end to their quixotic adventure. But the best was yet to come. Jesus came back and, out of their fear and hopelessness, he gave them a new life. With their new found faith and courage, the apostles and the disciples set out to change the world.

So, I encounter this presence in my life every morning. In silence and prayer, I learn that the Spirit leads me on and bids me: “Follow me.” I follow in faith and with courage, with trust and confidence. It is going to be a great day.

He said to him the third time, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” Peter felt hurt because he said to him the third time, “Do you love me?” And he said to him, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep. Very truly, I tell you, when you were younger, you used to fasten your own belt and to go wherever you wished. But when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will fasten a belt around you and take you where you do not wish to go.” (He said this to indicate the kind of death by which he would glorify God.) After this he said to him, “Follow me.”
John 21:15-19