Guidance from above

I was reading a book called the Nightingale recently.  Near the beginning of the book, Vianne's (one of the main characters) house was invaded by a Nazi captain.  She lived in occupied France, so she had no say in the matter.  After months of him politely living in her home, he asked her to provide him a list of Jews, communists, Jehovah's witnesses, etc who taught at the same school as she did. She hesitated, but then after he reassured her that it was just for clerical purposes, she talked herself into giving him the list.  During this scene, I kept hoping that she would deny his request and stand up for her friends. 

In the next chapter, which takes place a few months later, all the people on her list were fired as teachers.  She was heartbroken and guilt-stricken.  As I was thinking about this, I felt confident that I wouldn't have made that choice because I knew what the Nazis eventually did.  It occurred to me that if she had known the end from the beginning, she would never have made that choice either.  This phrase struck a chord with me and I pondered it for a while.

There are many times in life that we would act differently if we only knew the end from the beginning.  If I had known that Kim would die soon, I would have called her and emailed her more to take advantage of those last few months with her.  If I had known that leaving the grill dirty would result in some seriously nasty mold a few months later, I would have cleaned it. 

There are other times when I have been prompted to make a better choice by someone who does know the end from the beginning.  When Matthew and Rachel were little, I was prompted to check  the kids' carseats to see if they were buckled to the car (something which I never did) and discovered the buckle on one had come undone.  Within 5 minutes, Robert had to swerve the car pretty violently in a way that would have thrown the car seat into the other car seat and probably injured both of the kids.  A year ago, when we were determined to move to Arizona, the Lord told us that we belong here in Washington.  We don't know why that is the right choice, but we trust that he who knows the end from the beginning does.

We are not left in this life to wander, guessing if what we are doing is right.  We have basic principles to follow and when a decision can't be made by looking to the scriptures and the commandments, we can pray to the Lord.  He knows the end from the beginning and will always lead us down the best path for us that will lead us safely home.