Plot Twist

Let me preface this by saying that if you have not yet read or seen The Fault in Our Stars, and you intend to do so, you may not want to continue reading this post… You’re welcome.

So as summer was on the cusp of beginning, and I was anticipating all of the time I was going to have to be productive and do projects and read for enjoyment, I decided to pick up a book that seemed to be all the rage. I am proud to say that at least I finished the book, but teachers I know you hear me when I say, Holy Moses! It’s JULY?!?! That means school starts, like, tomorrow… There is so little time to do all of the things. So many things…

Anyway, the book. The Fault in Our Stars. I knew the basic idea from reading the back cover and talking with some of my students who had read it. They assured me that my heart would be absolutely broken by the final pages. (Why do I do this to myself?) So here is the gist– teenage couple meets in cancer support group. She’s very terminal; he’s in remission. You can imagine where this is going, right? So as I am reading, I find myself smiling at the characters and their precious romance. Augustus and Hazel are so well put together, and I could see so much reality in their teenage angst. So, all through the book, I’m preparing myself, imagining all the ways this is going to play out. Hazel is going to bite the dust, and I am going to cry for an hour because characters get real. (This is why I rarely read.  I am far too emotional about my own life to get so wrapped up in an imaginary one.)

(If you have kept reading, and you know I told you not to… I’m giving you one final out. I’m about to ruin John Green‘s story. Fair warning.)

So round about two-thirds into the book, Augustus starts giving me signs that make me want to slap and high-five the author all at once for this clever turn of events. The cancer that once infected sweet teenage boy, for which most have an 80% survival rate, has returned. And you got it people, guess who dies? NOT Hazel. For whose death I had been preparing myself for some 200 pages. Talk about a plot twist…

You know life is like that sometimes? We can be going along, preparing ourselves for what we just know is going to happen. Then, out of nowhere, life delivers a plot twist. Sometimes good, sometimes bad. A simple twist of fate.

I believe that God has good, extraordinary plans for our lives. He desires to do great things. But sometimes our own planning, our own efforts to try to figure out and develop the plot can get in the way of His best for us. But if we stand back, if we allow Him to work, if we allow Him to be the Author and Finisher of our books– He just might bring along a plot twist…