It's a Strange, Unpredictable World

Some reflections as the year draws to a close

What a year. And many people though that Covid would be the biggest event of our lifetime.

The year started with the greatest horror since the Holocaust. Unimaginable pain and suffering and death. And it’s far from over - indeed, for some people, it may never be over. But meanwhile, in the last two weeks, we’ve witnessed miracles that nobody saw coming. Even the IDF is taken aback at how much Hezbollah is in disarray.

Many different lessons have been learned this year. But there’s one overarching lesson that I think we can take.

The future is less predictable than we tend to think.

Catastrophic disasters, not predicted by professionals whose entire job is to predict such things, can happen in the blink of an eye.

Extraordinary miracles, so outrageously spectacular that if they were in a movie it would be criticized for being unrealistic, can take place.

None of this means that we should just throw up our hands and not prepare responsibly for life’s challenges. I think that some people overlook the fact that the amazing miracles of the last two weeks were the result of twenty years of very hard work by a lot of people. And we have certainly learned that Israel needs to be even more prepared for military confrontation. But preparation does not mean certainty of outcome.

Early on in the war, I saw someone - I forget who - write something that I copied and have been continuously tweaking. It goes like this:

No amount of preparedness can control every outcome. Life always provides adversity for which we need flexibility and resilience. And life also provides pleasant rewards - peaceful moments and joyous surprises that we can't anticipate, along with the satisfaction of having lived a life full of meaning.

Let us be grateful to God that we ended this terrible year with some success and hope. And let us pray that things only get better from here, that the hostages come home, and that our brave soldiers succeed in their mission and return home safely.