Bow to the mystery

I have a friend who struggled for a good many years trying to figure out something that happened in her family when she was a child. The questions she had about that situation were always with her, and when she dwelled on them she would get frustrated and depressed.

Are there things in your life that you have not been able to explain, or figure out, or solve? Do you have questions you cannot answer about this, that or the other thing that you keep on trying to find answers until you drive yourself crazy? All of us have at least one thing like that in our lives, the mystery that defies any attempt at a solution.

One day my friend has a revelation that brought her relief. It was so obvious that she couldn’t see it for years. The revelation was this: concerning that one issue, she was never going to figure it out, never find an answer or solution to the questions she kept asking about it, and what’s more, she realized that once she accepted the matter as a mystery in her life and let go of the struggle, she was at peace.

Of course, from time to time, she would once again begin questioning things, but all she had to remember was that she had decided to bow to the mystery, then the torment would cease and her peace would return to her.

I’m writing this not only for you but also for myself, because I just realized that I have a question which I’ve been asking recently, a question that I will probably never be able to answer. This isn’t the first time I’ve had questions like that, and I’ll bet it won’t be the last time.

What I need to do, like my friend, and perhaps like you as well, is simply surrender to the mystery and let it be. If someday the Lord wants me to have an answer, he’ll work it out for me. But I’m not going to drive myself crazy waiting around for it. I bow before the mystery and just let.it.be.