Of all the ghosts Scrooge encounters, the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come terrifies him the most. The future is scary. For Scrooge, it contains loneliness, disappointment, and death at this point in the novel. Of course, Scrooge is given a gift that most of us will never receive: a vision of what his future holds. Sort of like George Bailey and Clarence, old Ebenezer is taught a lesson by the ghost.
I spend a good portion of my time worrying about the future. When I had my Ebenezer moment yesterday afternoon, I was gazing into the future and seeing poverty and bankruptcy and foreclosure. It was a ridiculous thing to do. I have no idea what the future will bring me. For all I know, I may publish my book of poems (you know, the one that didn't win the Phil Levine Poetry Prize) and be awarded the Pulitzer Prize in Poetry. Then, the university will offer me an instant tenured professorship along with an office suite and my choice of classes to teach. It could happen.
My point is that the future can be frightening (all graves and darkness), or it can be wonderful (all Pulitzers and sun). Or it can fall anywhere in between those extremes, and usually does. I will never be given a vision of the Yet to Come, like Scrooge. I will never be allowed to see what life would have been like if I'd never been born, ala George Bailey. I just have to trust that things will work out well.
That's the plight of all Christians. It's called faith. We can do everything to insure success. Good school. Good job. Hard work. Long hours. New Year's resolutions. There are no guarantees. The only guarantee we have as Christians is that God/Jesus will be us, through fire and rain, summer and winter.
Saint Marty still has a lot of work to do, faith-wise.
Confessions of Saint Marty
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