Pieces of Hope: A Collection

Reality

"Reality."

How many times have you heard that word, or the phrase, "Harsh reality?"

"I've been hit with reality."

"He finally woke up to the harsh reality."

"Reality's tough."

"That's not the way reality works."

Notice a trend there?

All the sentences above seem to reflect negatively on reality. My guess is you haven't ever heard sentences/phrases like this:

"Good reality."

"Reality's a nice thing isn't it?"

"He finally realized how good reality is."

I think your brain is probably frying up like Norman's was when Spock told him Mudd was always lying.

Star Trek fans will get the reference.

But seriously. Reality is NOT something we look forward to, if we're honest. Reality is war, hate violence, debt, poverty, abuse... The list goes on.

Reality is when you run out of gas beside the road. Reality is mom on the verge of collapse from no sleep. Reality is real life.

And guess what? That is what reality is.

What? You expected me to say something different? It is true. It's the way this world is.

But there's the catch: We don't want it to be this way. We don't want this world, we don't want all of the above mentioned things. I'm sure you could add a few others to the list from your own existence.

But if this is all we've ever experienced, then where did we get the idea for dreams?

Like really, if all of this is not good, is negative, is bad and wrong, then why do we think about worlds where it's not this way?

Alright, here we are, at the core part of why I'm writing this non-fiction piece. I've led you up to it, so here it is. Do with it what you will.

What if I told you that not all of reality is bad?

Here me out here: reality is what's real right? But for some reason, our conception of reality has become reality is whatever is bad that is happening to you right now.

If that's what reality is, then I guess that heart-warming hug you shared with mom isn't real. And I guess that kid giving another kid some of its candy isn't reality. I guess everything that's good in your life isn't real.

This world is screwed up. So screwed up God's Son had to die for it that we might escape it. And we keep making it even more screwed up. But please remember: there are still fragments of good in this world.

There is such a thing as good reality.

God is good. And He is real. And He's even more good than our concept of good. There will never be more evil in the world then there is God. God is God. (If you're going to debate me on this, then PM me but don't spam the comments.)

A common question is, if God is good, then why is there evil and suffering? A legitimate question, but first let's back up here: Who says God was responsible for the choices we made?

This world went wrong. Horribly wrong. And it's our fault. My fault, and your fault, whether we want to admit it or not, we're just as responsible for it as Hitler was. God had every right to leave us in the mess we've made and continue to make.

You were the one that chose to lie to your boss, not God. You were the one who yelled at your sibling, not God. You were the one who chose what you did. Not God. Do not blame God for what we do and what we chose, or what you did and what you chose!

My question back to you would be this: Why, if you're so 'good' as to judge what God does, why are you causing God pain? Why are you lying, back-stabbing, and just plain sinning in HIS world?

Let's be honest here, we've made a complete and utter mess of things. And God had every right, still has every right, to leave us sitting in this mess we made.

But He didn't.

He did the exact opposite.

He came down here to join us in the mess.

And He willingly died for the mess we created, the mess He didn't have to partake in, so that we could join Him outside the mess.

We scream day in and day out about the murdering of innocent people. And well should we. May we never loose sight of it and do everything we can to stop it.

But there's no such thing as a truly innocent person on this earth.

But then Christ came, perfectly innocent, the true definition of innocent. And we killed Him. We nailed His hands down and scorned Him as He let us do it.

I don't hear any of you screaming about the injustice of His death.

The cross is ultimate reality. Calvary is ultimate reality. The meeting of good and bad reality.

And guess which reality won?

So here's my message after this 800 word long spiral: Yes, reality is harsh sometimes. But there is such a thing as good reality.