All Shall Be Well - Julian Of Norwich

1342–1416

Do optimists annoy you? Do you get tired of people who try to cheer you up in the most inane ways? “Look at the bright side.” “Turn that frown upside down.” “It’s always darkest before . . .” You get the idea. (Oops—maybe you are an optimist; if so, read on.)

The problem is not the joyful attitude itself, but the fact that these cheerleaders usually have little to go on. So what makes you think this cloud actually has a silver lining?

A favorite quote from the fourteenth-century mystic Julian of Norwich goes like this: “All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well.” At first blush, that would make her the poster child for unfounded optimism, but let’s take a deeper look at her writing.

Julian was passionate about the love of God. It was powerful, but it was also what she called “homely”—that is, personal, practical, part of ordinary life. God was a father to her, but also a nurturing mother, holding her tight. And this gives us the reason that “all shall be well.” If we are loved relentlessly by the all-powerful God, we can trust him to be there for us in thick and thin. Julian wrote honestly of her own pain, and even of her own sin, but her focus was on the love of God overcoming all of that. “God, of thy goodness, give me thyself, for thou art enough for me.”

So if you’re an optimist, that’s fine. Really. But make it more than just “positive thinking.” Mull over the pervasive love of God. Because he loves us, we know that, whether things turn out for the best or the worst, “all manner of thing shall be well.”

I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Romans 8:38-39