The Author of Our Lives

By DEACON ROBERT YERHOT, MSW

God alone is the author of our lives. He writes every word in every chapter. Our lives are true and beautiful because they speak of God’s will. While, for many of us, our lives seem to be the unfortunate results of random events beyond our control or desire, in fact, God has willed all that happens in our lives. Every detail. The good things he has directly willed for us; the not-so-good things he allowed to occur so as to redeem those things and use them to better carry out his plan for us and for the whole world. Yes, everything has a place in God’s plan for us and the whole world. God has known every detail of our lives from all eternity. Will we let God write the book of our lives and reveal its meaning when he sees fit?

We all know people who suffer greatly from a variety of illness. We are tempted to conclude it is all so unfair and unfortunate. God, I believe, is calling forth something beautiful from it. God is calling forth from us a deeper faith. Illness challenges all of us to see God’s presence and love more readily. Through illness, do we not hear Jesus asking: “Do you love me? Do you trust me and my plan? I am doing something wonderful here. Do you not see it?”

For several decades, I worked with men and women who were being treated for schizophrenia. They were my patients, and I grew to respect the courage many of them had in living with this devastating illness. Life was hard work for them. They worked much harder at life than many of us do. One of these people was a woman with whom I worked for 20 years. At the end of my last session with her, I said to her, “You have suffered much in your life. You know the crucifixion well and haven’t yet to experienced the resurrection.” To my surprise, she shook her head in disagreement. She said her life was not just suffering. She saw it as a life lived for the betterment of her family, and she was at peace with that. In that, she had experienced a sort of resurrection. That statement was a learning moment for me, and a gift she gave me. Her life mirrored the life of Jesus. Just as his suffering was lived for the betterment of the world, hers was lived for the betterment of her family. Just as Jesus willingly laid down his life for all of us, she had lived her life for her children.

At every moment of every day of life, God holds your life in his hands, willing you to live. Over and over again without ceasing, God wills you to live. God has given life to you and he never takes it from you. No, he gave you eternal life at baptism. He will sustain that life forever.

We live in a world that cheapens human life. We live in a world that takes life from people rather than giving it. We live in a world that does not see the deeper realities, the hidden mysteries. What are those mysteries? That God uses the weak, the childlike, the poor, and the sick to reveal his presence and his plan for the entire world.

May God richly bless you. You have reason to hope that you will someday see God face to face, when every tear will be wiped away, every question answered, every hope fulfilled, and every reason known. You have only to remain faithful to him. You have reason to hope that you will rest in peace, after having heard the words, “Well done, good and faithful one. Come now into your eternal home.”

Deacon Robert Yerhot is the director of the diaconate for the Diocese of Winona-Rochester.