Life is sweet.
And life is hard.
As I type this, I am enjoying a freshly washed pair of flannel pajamas. But my belly is kinda aching from waiting too long to eat. Which then caused me to eat too much when I finally did get around to it. Hence the switch from skinny jeans to flannel pajama bottoms.
I am sipping on a delicious cup of cinnamon tonic, while listening to the storm slowly brewing outside. A seemingly beautiful spring moment (and that it is!). But the sweet smell of cinnamon from my cup is slowly being overridden by the stench coming from a pile of stinky, poopy diapers waiting by the backdoor for their trip to the washing machine.
Yes, friends, there is sweet and there is stinky. There is longing and there is loss. There is relaxation and there is work.
Stuart presented the following poem to his class last week, and I've thought of it often since he read it to me over the breakfast table a few days ago.
It sticks with me, in the back of my mind, reminding me that this side of glory there will always be battles alongside peace.
Uphill
Christina Rossetti
Does the road wind up-hill all the way?
Yes, to the very end.
Will the day's journey take the whole long day?
From morn to night, my friend.
But is there for the night a resting-place?
A roof for when the slow dark hours begin.
May not the darkness hide it from my face?
You cannot miss that inn.
Shall I meet other wayfarers at night?
Those who have gone before.
Then must I knock, or call when just in sight?
They will not keep you standing at that door.
Shall I find comfort, travel-sore and weak?
Of labour you shall find the sum.
Will there be beds for me and all who seek?
Yea, beds for all who come.
A lot of people who I know and love dearly are carrying struggles, and burdens, and challenges as I type this. There are struggles with money. With jobs. With loss. With sickness. With infertility. With divorce. With infidelity. With addiction. With weary souls.
And this side of glory (that is, this side of heaven) these struggles will always be. Until our very last day, my friends, our walk will be uphill. It will be hard.
But that isn't where it ends, is it? Even on earth, we can find rest for our weariness. A rest that comes in knowing our Lord and Savior has secured for us a place in Paradise. So no matter how many times I've lost my temper today, or how tired my body is, or how difficult of a day I will face tomorrow, at this very moment, there is rest.
A rest found in Christ's sufficient sacrifice for my sin.
A breath of life.
A revival of spirit.
A break from the painstaking travels.
Though the Lord challenges us, He is gracious enough to keep us from breaking.
I liken the poem to my time spent backpacking through Europe. As I battled thieves, beggars, subways, unfamiliar streets, numerous transportation challenges, exhaustion, and language barriers – that incredible, restful feeling of laying my head down in bed at night consistently refreshed my body and soul after the difficulties. In fact, it was the difficulties of the traveling that made me appreciate that sweet pillow and rest all the more.
Alas, I shouldn't be surprised that the smell of poopy diapers is lingering in the air. That messiness is part of a challenging life.
But rest is found in Christ.
And eternal rest, free of all poo, will be found at the top of the uphill journey. For all who are willing to keep traveling.
Will there be beds for me and all who seek?
Yea, beds for all who come.
This post reminds me of a verse of one of my favorite hymns. Yes, our walk is uphill all the way, but it is also:
My walk is heavenward all the way, await my soul the morrow,
When thou shalt find release for aye, from all thy sin and sorrow.
All worldly pomp be gone, to heaven I now press on,
For all the world I would not stay, my walk is heavenward all the way!
So uphill, heavenward! Press on! The prize at the end will be so totally worth it!
This really touched me; thank you for the reminder of His sustaining and never-ending grace.
Great reminders Shaye. I’ve been living in a whirlwind these past few months and it finally seems to be slowing down, just a little. And that rest, it’s blessed. Our heavenly rest will be glorious and I’m thankful knowing that I’ll be there one day and so will you. Hope you have a great Christ-filled weekend.
Even though I’m a humanist & believe in no higher power, I find that this is where we too are in our lives, struggling each & every day to make ends meet, to care for our lovely children, to make the best of what we have while climbing up hill all the way with so very much on our shoulders, we have loss more than gain & our communities are crumbling to pieces all around us. It take more effort than ever before to appreciate the good in it all & it is so much harder to find these days. Thanks for the post~Rose
As a Christian I find your perspective interesting. I think the position of the post is that it is possible to see the good in it all because there is ultimate satisfaction at the end of our labors found in Christ and the redemption he offers. I hope you don’t mind me asking because I am genuinely curious, but as a humanist what is the “good in it all” that you allude to?
Stuart,
As another humanist who follows this lovely blog, I was hoping to take a turn at your question. Indeed, I do not believe in any form of afterlife. When I pass, I believe it will be as it was before I came into consciousness and I won’t know differently. That makes my time here on this amazing planet heartbreakingly precious and I treasure every second. I do not live my life for an end reward, I feel my rewards are all around me everyday. I want to make it as lovely for everyone I come into contact with because . . . this is it. This is my heaven and I feel so fortunate that molecules came together in our universe to give me this life for the short time I have it. I am grateful. Every day .
Thanks for responding. I think the difficulty I have with your reason, that you want to make life as lovely as possible because this is it, is that one could could use that same reason (and have) to justify living their lives to only better themselves and take advantage of others (or worse). Others have believed that we are just random molecules with no ultimate purpose and no hope of eternal satisfaction and, as a result of that bleak belief, despaired. Others are not so grateful that out of all the molecules that came together that ours came together in such a way as to make us conscious of our own insignificance. So others have taken those same reasons and come to quite different conclusions. Instead of seeing this as their heaven they see it as their hell and long to escape this conscious existence.
I think more of the norm is people like you who recognize the good and natural desire to find purpose, meaning and satisfaction outside yourself. Whether it is from your work or kids or helping others you pursue that need for satisfaction outside yourself.
The best I have read on this comes from St. Augustine, a brilliant man even by humanist standards. He points out that our desire for satisfaction cannot be met or fulfilled by anything this world can offer because it is all temporal and ultimately drives us back to ourselves. Augustine himself wrestled with this difficulty before he became a Christian. He found a satisfying answer in the Christian worldview. There is so much that could be said but a comment post doesnt allow. I would love to continue the exchange of ideas though.
This is absolutely beautiful, Shaye. Thank you so much for writing this. I think Satan often wants us to forget about that rest at the end of the road–that life is a constant up-hill battle with no reward, no relief at the end. It is by feeding us that lie that he creates in us despair and hopelessness. But as children of God, WE DO HAVE HOPE. Hope in the resurrection, hope in the promises that God has given us–that indeed, when life comes to an end, we will find eternal rest.
Thank you for this comfort and reassurance. I’m glad we’re in this journey together.
So beautifully written…
very nice, thank you.
Wow! It’s beautiful…. Thank You <3