Going on a Bear Hunt

“We are going on a bear hunt”

I did not get introduced to this song until I had kids of my own. Sitting at a friends house one night she went to play a song and asked, “do you guys want “bear hunt”?’ To which she got blank stares. We had never hear of that classic, which obviously is a wrong that needed immediate righting.

I love when kids stories and songs have actually helpful messages in life.

The day my husband read Chicken Little to my children, and looked up at me after the last page with shock in his eyes still sits with me. “Is that the message of this story? Wow, I am impressed!”

Me too!

When difficult situations arise in life, it is easy to scour your brain, wondering if or what you did to cause it. If not cause it, to find something that you could have done (but apparently did not) to prevent it.

I remember vividly sitting in the hospital with the unexpected arrival of our daughter. It wasn’t supposed to be this way. What happened? Was it something I did? Could I have prevented it?

I found myself worrying about a future I had never pictured, and was still so unclear. All the ‘ifs’ or ‘buts’ filled my mind. Pointing to every worst case scenario.

How long would she stay here? Would she recover fully? Would we get into the Ronald McDonald House? If so would we bring Micah? Or should he stay with his grandparents?

This might have been an extreme circumstance, but I don’t for a minute believe that we only struggle in emergencies. It is just one of a hundred scenarios in which I did not see a way forward.

But forward I must go.

Unknown in any scenario can be debilitating. What is the next right step? None of us can see the future so we can’t play any scene to the end. There will never be a way to foresee every option or every obstacle or every road bump.

We can’t know where the road will go. Only God can. He is all knowing. And we are not.

He shares with us an abundance of good and wonderful gifts. Knowing it all is not one of them. Which in my opinion, just underlines His goodness. If I saw it all, I would never be persuaded to take one tiny step forward.

The tragedy of that fact Is humbling. To stand still might avoid headache (but probably not), but it would steal so much from us.

The children’s song plays in my head… You can’t go around it, and you can’t go under it.

You can only go through it.

And yea, though I walk through the shadow of death, I will fear no evil for you are with me.

We can only go through.

And He is with us.

We might walk through the valley of death.

But He has already been there before.

He died so death would not touch us.

He lived that He might sympathize with us in our fears and doubts and pains.

We must go through. We must hold His hand and go with Him. Trusting Him that He will also make us lie down in green pastures. He will be joy in suffering. Life in death. Eternity in the a world that is passing away. Sunrises and new morning mercies after the darkest night.

The journey might be intimidating. There is no avoiding it. No detour exists. But the journey will be good. Because His goodness goes with us.