The Monster at the End of this Book

This book was written the year I was born. It is a classic. I love this book. I loved it as a kid. I love the suspense. I love reading it to my kids. I love the message. ... Message? you say. Yes. And a great message at that!

For those who don't know, or need a re-cap, the basic plot is this: Grover is frightened by the title of the book. He is so scared of monsters. He does everything he can to prevent you, the reader, from turning pages, so that he never has to discover the monster at the end of the book. He pleads, he ties the pages together, he nails them together, he builds a big brick wall... and finally when the reader turns the last page, you and he discover that lovable, furry old Grover is the monster at the end of the book. "And you were so scared! I told you and told you there was nothing to be afraid of," he says. And the very last page, with hands over his face he admits, "Oh, I am so embarrassed..."

It's such a cute book, that addresses children's fears of monsters. Children love turning the pages in suspense, even though Grover has pleaded with them otherwise. They laugh and laugh at Grover's seemingly silly fear of monsters.

As I was reading this to Emily last night, it dawned on me that this is exactly how we live our lives sometimes. There are "monsters" (i.e. failures, accidents, catastrophes) out there in the world that we fear so greatly. We spend our energy dreading them, avoiding them, worrying about them, convincing others to fear them, scared and frozen. We tie and nail things down, build brick walls around us, and plead with God to prevent bad stuff from happening. And what good does that do us? Do we not trust God's plan? Do we think our energy spent fearing things is beneficial?

Now I'm not saying that there are not any healthy fears out there, or that we should live life with no thought of safety or wise choices. But I think we can all think of something we fear that, like Grover's fear, when we it really comes down to it, is unnecessary. For example, I fear failure. I really like for every plan I have to go perfectly (or close), be successful (in my eyes), and reflect well on me (oh, and on God, too). But God has been teaching me that sometimes He can actually make wonderful things come from what I would consider a failure. Not only can He make the best of something bad, but He sometimes actually intends for the failure to happen, so He can be glorified in a way I had not planned.

I don't know how God decides what things to allow to happen, what things to cause to happen, and what things to redeem. But I do know that I have learned so much and developed so much character from the "monsters" in my life. God knows the end of the book. He knows all the "monsters" we will face, how He will work through them, and how we will respond. Maybe we need to just chill out a little more, trust Him a little more, and stop fearing things so much. Maybe those monsters we fear will end up being lovable, furry old monsters that ultimately enrich our lives!

Thanks Sesame Street and Children's Television Workshop for teaching us throughout our lives!