Life is a river running home
Eighty-two-year-old Morris went to the doctor for a physical. Two days
later, the doctor saw Morris walking down the street with a gorgeous young woman. The doctor says, "You're really doing great, aren't you?"
Morris replied, "Just doing what you said, Doc: 'Get a hot mamma and be
cheerful.'" The doctor said, "I said, 'You've got a heart murmur; be careful.’"
Nothing sounds less appealing than the invitation to “take up your cross” on a daily basis. Who would welcome suffering, pain and hardship? Yet it is the condition to which our flesh is heir.
I wish that we could live our lives with intensity. Viewing American Idol and The Voice has given me much inspiration. “I didn’t think I would make it,” one commented. One Voice coach said: “Sing your song as if it’s the last song you’ll ever sing!”
“I wish they had told me I can walk on water,” sings Drew Ryn in “Walk on Water.” Where do we find the drive and motivation to shine like stars? Truth be told, we can relate to Jemal Robert’s comment, “I didn’t have everything I wanted, but I had everything I needed.” Adam David shares his motivation. His artistic drive was stronger than his addiction.
When our end comes, I hope we can say, as did one Idol contestant, “I did all I could. I added some dance moves. I left it all on the stage. I hope it was enough. Now I just have to wait for the result.”
Each of us knows deep down that we seek the Lord. For centuries the
great writers and philosophers have been telling us that. If we have not
tried to kill the feeling, we hunger for God. It is part of our human
nature. Most of us have just again watched the drama of the Cross and Resurrection.
Again, this Easter, we have looked at our lives within the context of a larger narrative, namely the resurrection that follows our cross and suffering. Why can we not stay focused on the glory to come rather than on the hardships of this life?
“If there is meaning in life then there must be meaning in the suffering … suffering ceases to be suffering at the moment it finds a meaning.” (Victor Frankl).
Ultimately it is a matter of faith. Faith is a gift from God to us. It
is something we should pray for and seek. It is also something we need to work with, to use. It will give us focus and give our journey purpose.
Malcolm Muggeridge says, “This horror of pain is a rather low instinct and… if I think of human beings I’ve known and of my own life, such as it is, I can’t recall any case of pain which didn’t, on the whole, enrich my life.”
The story is told of the French impressionist Auguste Renoir’s last years of paralyzing arthritis. Henri Matisse visited him daily, watching Renoir fighting torturous pain with each brush stroke. Finally Matisse asked, “Auguste, why do you continue to paint when you are in such agony?”
“The pain passes but the beauty remains,” Renoir replied. Indeed, the pain of the Cross passes but the beauty of the Resurrection light remains. The river does not remember the sharp stones, the rapids, or even the long journey when it reaches the sea.
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