The Majesty of "What If?"

I had an interesting conversation last night where I had the chance to speculate about a few "what if?" situations I'd experienced in the last few weeks.  It made me realize that this speculation is beyond what our minds can grasp.  If one thing happened differently, it would set off a chain reaction of other things that would provide a different present world than what we see today, even if the difference is not immediately noticeable.  Frankly, I thank God that I don't have to understand the chain reaction for myself.  Otherwise, it'd certainly set off its own chain reaction where I'd spend day and night piecing together every little "what if" from my past.

Considering the "what if"s can be dangerous.  Dwell too much on the past, and you get stuck in a cycle where you'll scrutinize everything you do in the present.  I think that as a culture, we sometimes get too obsessed with the "what if" concept.  Sure, it has its positives: for instance, we all have embarrassing moments that we wish we could do over again, and understanding the "what if" in that situation usually prevents us from having a repeat moment.  However, spending too much time in the "what if" zone can cause us unnecessary stress.  If you want an example, just think about any failed attempts at romance in your life (unless you're batting a thousand... then you're just lucky).  But even in this last example, we can find more positives in considering the "what if"s.

I think that the concept of "what if", as long as it isn't an obsessive thought, is majestic.  As I mentioned previously, the idea of working out every single reaction to our "what if" situation is beyond the scope of what we can imagine.  Every "what if" can introduce a list of other "what if" situations.  The fact that I can't grasp it all... it amazes me.  I find joy in the idea that there is an almost infinite list of possible results for every situation, big and small.  It's a reminder that, at least for my beliefs, God is in control of my life, and only He is capable of grasping things that are so grand.

So this is my encouragement to you: when faced with a "what if" situation, don't let yourself obsess about it.  Remember that even if the choice you made doesn't yield your desired result, you're going to learn or gain something from it anyway.  You can go back and consider it all you want, but you're not guaranteed to have reached the result you wanted anyway.  Everything happens for a reason, and though you might not see it now, that "what if" happened to set something else in motion in your future.