A Happy Ending

C.S. Lewis once wrote that "The pain I feel now is the happiness I had before. That's the deal." And he was right. We morn for that which we once had, that which we had hoped for but now have lost all hope of receiving. But perhaps his quote is true in the reverse; perhaps the pain we feel now is part of the happiness we will receive in the future. I believe in God--a God that will reward us. But I don't believe that He won't punish us, won't let us suffer. He will let us suffer. Much of our lives will be spent in pain and anguish, but He didn't do this our of spite or revenge or malice, he did this because He wanted us to understand that a happy ending doesn't come without sadness. A happy ending doesn't even come in this life. A happy ending includes sadness, includes the knowledge that loss and pain are inevitable--a way of life, a natural thing. When we read a book or watch a movie, we sympathize with the characters and root them on because we want them to have a happy ending, and we want to believe that their happy ending is well deserved. So when a character doesn't get that happy ending, we are disappointed, we feel the injustice, feel like something should have gone right. But it is often the stories that don't have a completely happy ending, the stories that involve loss that we remember. Because what would a happy ending be if it was just handed to us? Would we even know what happiness was if we had never experienced sadness? What is a happy ending if you haven't earned it? Life is hard. Life is unfair. But that's the way it is. If we want to be satisfied with ourselves, satisfied for the ultimate happiness that awaits us beyond the grave, we have to endure sadness now. The pain we feel now is part of the happiness we will have to come. That's the deal.