As the calendar pages fall and the years seem to pass quicker, I visualize life as a journey. I have enough time under my belt now that I can see the hills and valleys behind me and know more await my arrival in the future.
How is it that our lives pass us by so quickly? We spend so much of it racing to get to the next stage that we seldom notice the beauty of our current season.
Moses says in Psalm 90, “The years of our life are seventy, or even by reason of strength eighty; yet their span is but toil and trouble; they are soon gone, and we fly away.”
Our childhoods are marked by developmental milestones, our parents both grieving the loss of the newborn yawns and cheering at first unsteady wobbles across the living room rug. We look forward to the next grade in school, anticipating new abilities each year, and achieving desired independence.
Adulthood is no different. We wait anxiously, curious if each new acquaintance might turn out to be “the one.” We adapt when babies are born and loved ones die. We seek comfort, hoping to cast off all suffering. Wrinkles appear in the mirror, marking where we have carried our joy and anger. Our bodies slow and hunch from the weight of our lives. Before we acknowledge what has happened, we discover there is more path behind us than stretched out in the horizon. If we aren’t careful, we spend our entire lives wishing for the next accomplishment, forgetting to notice the miracle that exists in each breath.
Ecclesiastes 6 cautions us. “There is an evil that I have seen under the sun, and it lies heavy on mankind: a man to whom God gives wealth, possessions, and honor, so that he lacks nothing of all that he desires, yet God does not give him power to enjoy them, but a stranger enjoys them. This is vanity; it is a grievous evil. If a man fathers a hundred children and lives many years, so that the days of his years are many, but his soul is not satisfied with life’s good things, and he also has no burial, I say that a stillborn child is better off than he.”
It does us no good to live many years, filled to capacity with all good things, only to live striving for more. We will never be satisfied if this is our goal.
Our lives more often follow the pattern of the foolish man wasting away his years than a wise man who cherishes each gift. I believe one way to push against this is a concept so simple but rare in our modern world.
Community.
We were not meant to live as islands, friends. What good are all the joys of the earth if we share them with no one?
On our own, we live in constant danger of discouragement and surrender. Our lives are meant to be spent in community with others. We need each other to lift us up, to help us clarify the thoughts that can torment us, and to rejoice in our victories. And we need to provide those things for others, or we risk becoming so self-focused that we lose our direction.
Like children escorting each other home when the street lights turn on, we must acknowledge both our need and responsibility to walk with others in this dark world.
The author of Ecclesiastes also says, “Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow. But woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up!”
This verse is often quoted at weddings, but it applies to all good relationships.
This life is very much a journey. It is for good reason that classic allegories like Pilgrim’s Progress and Hind’s Feet On High Places have stood the test of time.
Our souls relate to the imagery of the sun warming our skin as we twirl through a field of blooming flowers. In seasons of turmoil, we know the difficulty of climbing cliffs of jagged rock, terrified of the pit below threatening to swallow us. We feel the anxiety of treading through rushing rivers, knowing safety is mere feet away, but the current is forcing a fight you aren’t sure you can win. Our breath comes slow and steady when we walk freely on a smooth path as birds dance to their own melody above our heads.
How much greater the journey when we have another to walk alongside!
Perhaps in life you will marry and your spouse will hold your hand as you navigate most of what lies on the road. Maybe you have the blessing of a parent who is able to call out encouragement to you from their own location ahead of you. Surely we will all experience both the joy and grief as friends walk some stretches with us before parting to take their own paths. Some we will outrun, promising to champion from further ahead. Some may turn from the road entirely and we must painfully part ways. Our lives are marked by the people who come and go from them.
“So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom. Satisfy us in the morning with Your steadfast love, that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.” Psalm 90:12 & 14
In the grand scheme of the universe, our days are few. I urge you to settle your heart in the hope of the Lord. King Solomon, the writer of Ecclesiastes, was the wisest man on earth. He found all of life to be vanity, except joy in God and His good gifts.
In His wisdom, He gave us the gift of the Church. He did not intend for us to climb mountains and valleys alone. He has surrounded us with other people, though imperfect, to make the journey easier. We can lean on one another, spot potential pitfalls, splash in the creek, and learn to both cry and sing together as we walk.
Our lives can feel as though we are weighed down by burdensome loads. The pain of this broken world is immense. How can we run this journey well if we carry backpacks of brick? Let us turn to Jesus, who promises that his burdens are light because He is gentle and lowly of heart (Matthew 29:11).
The road may be treacherous in places, but it need not be constantly lonely, dear friends. Look around you and find fellow travelers. You can be a tremendous gift to them as you help shoulder their burdens, and likewise they can catch you when you stumble in the weeds. Learn to take each step with patience and kindness toward one another. Hold the hands of your companions and dance together in the sun and the rain as you march forward.
You are not the first saint to walk this path. Learn to sing their songs that echo in the hills.
Hold fast to the hope of the eternal promise, knowing it will one day become sight. Your real home lies at the end of the journey. Behold the glory of the Lord lying ahead of you and allow yourself to be transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to the next (2 Corinthians 3:18). He is refining you- both preparing a place for you and you for that place.
We are all sojourners in this life. While your current location is not your destination, admire the beauty in this place. Even dangerous places are marked with the imprint of their Creator, so look for Him where you are. Press onward, knowing His glory awaits you. Find pleasure in the company of those on the path around you and spur one another on.
At the end of the day, we are all just walking each other home.
