It is what it is

 

“What comes, when it comes, will be what it is.” ~ Alberto Caeiro

An old Chinese fable has it that a poor old farmer had a beautiful white horse. It was a thing of beauty and he was much envied for it. He had turned away many offers to sell the horse countering that it was a friend, not a possession to him so he could not sell it. One day, he woke up to find the stable empty and the horse missing! His neighbors laughed and told him he had courted the misfortune by not agreeing to sell the horse and get out of his poverty. The old man replied, “It is neither good nor bad, it simply is what it is, for we can never know the whole story.”

Fifteen days later, the stallion returned to the village, leading a pack of twelve wild horses. And the villagers were back at it exclaiming how fortunate the farmer was because he could now train the wild horses, sell them and make a fortune. The old farmer once again replied, “It is neither good nor bad, it simply is what it is, for we can never know the whole story.”

The old man had an only son who soon got to work taming the wild horses. As he was breaking one of them for the saddle, it threw him off and he broke both his legs. The villagers now said it was a bad thing that the wild horses had come as they seem to have brought the man the misfortune of crippling his only son! Once again, the old man replied, “It is neither good nor bad, it simply is what it is, for we can never know the whole story.”

As his son was recuperating, the drums of war were beating and the nation went into war with its neighbor. The emperor ordered a conscription campaign and all the young men from the villages were rounded up. All the villagers were devastated to see their sons go as the likelihood of seeing them alive again was slim. The old man’s son, being lame, was however left behind. Again the villagers’ envy was roused as they said it was a good thing the man’s son was lame as he would survive the war, unlike their sons who would likely never come back alive. Again, the old man replied, “It is neither good nor bad, it simply is what it is, for we can never know the whole story.”

Many things happen to us in our lifetime but as the old man points out, “we can never know the whole story.” Indeed, only God is Omniscient – having the capacity to know everything. How an event ties into the past, present, and future is not given to us at the moment and we can only live in trust that someone greater than ourselves has our good in mind and will work it all out for our good eventually.  

I recall the story of Joseph as recorded in Genesis 37 – 50. The time that Joseph spent as a slave and prisoner in Egypt seemed so pointless and many of us, had we been in his shoes, would have despaired and cursed God. It turns out it was training and development for a prime minister position and his main purpose was to save the world from a 7-year famine. What looked like tragedy after tragedy and injustice upon injustice was later described as, in Joseph’s words – “You intended to harm me, but God intended it all for good.” Genesis 50:20 (NLT)

No matter what is currently unfolding, keep in mind that until you find out the whole story, it is neither good nor bad, it simply is what it is. Work with what you have where you are but keep an observant eye for what is unfolding. Place your faith in the one who knew your end before your beginning and trust that he knows what is best for you, at the moment. Bitterness is an unnecessarily heavy burden to lug around on this journey, travel light.

“Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms – to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.” ~ Viktor E. Frankl, Man’s Search for Meaning