I’ve had to eat my words so many times that I’ve finally stopped saying the word “never.” Almost every time I vowed, “I’m never going to do that!” I ended up doing just what I said I wouldn’t do.
In the 1980s, I enjoyed our beautiful classic Airstream trailer so much that I often exclaimed, “I don’t ever want to live in a house again!” But I’ve never lived in a trailer since. When we moved to Asia, I said, “Having come so far, we’re never going back.” But within a year, we were back in Latin America, which has been our home ever since.
When our black cat, Bageerah, was 16 years old, I said, “This is our last cat, we’ll never have another one.” But then our grandson made friends with a stray yellow tabby kitten, and even Bageerah seemed to enjoy the tiny kitten’s company. They would sunbathe together on the front porch in the mornings, and when Bageerah passed away, the yellow tabby formally became a part of our family.
The saying “never say never” means we should leave ourselves open to the unexpected. I wish I had a crystal ball and could peek into the future and plan accordingly. But alas, it isn’t feasible to make strong proclamations about the future from our limited perspective. Life is so full of unexpected turns and surprises that it’s impossible to anticipate them all. I imagine God chuckling at my impetuous declarations of “I will never…” when I should be more open to what He has in store for me. When I put my affairs in His hands, every change works together for good. (See Romans 8:28.)
I know now that our family would have quickly outgrown the little trailer. If we were still living in Asia, we would have missed our calling to work on Christian devotional material in the Spanish language. And what would I do without our yellow tabby cat, Sammy, who is sleeping at my feet as I type these words?