The Road

I’ve traveled a long twisty road for almost 80 years now, most of it hand in hand with my darling, Ron.  The long road has left bumps and bruises.  It’s been full of rough and slippery spots, times of falling and standing, of skinned knees and broken noses, of rising and sitting, and of stumbling and running.  On this road I’ve met smiles and tears, pain and pleasure, hate and love, struggle and rest, sin and goodness, and sunshine and rain.

But we’ve always been traveling, never knowing what was around the next bend.  We planned, we hoped, we waited for the next clear view ahead, the next signpost that would tell us what to expect.  It hasn’t happened that way, and I certainly didn’t always walk on the easiest route.  Sometimes the road was rougher because of my own bad decisions.  Sometimes because of choices other people made, and sometimes, yes, because God determined that I should travel a different, a harder, piece of land.   

It could be that God wants us to build muscles for something that He knows we will face later.  Or because there were gifts He’d given us that we weren’t using, or there was someone along that rougher route - someone He knew we could help.   Or just maybe God wanted us to remember that we do always need Him.

But the beauty of the trek down this road is that we haven’t had to do it alone.  Even if we didn’t know it, we’ve always had a companion - the one companion who would provide all we needed to make the journey, to keep on going, to give us direction, comfort, healing and the assurance that there would be something beautiful at the end.

This companion directed our eyes to the beauty of our surroundings, the beauty of His creation, of His creatures.  He helped us to see those children who were walking without Him.  He reminded us that they were also His children, and they were there for us to love and care for as well.

This companion comforted us when we despaired, wondering if the pain and trouble would ever end, and assured us that - Yes, He knew what we were feeling.  And, always, one morning when our eyes opened, we would see the love in His eyes, the sympathy and care of His heart, and we would be able to get out of bed.  He was all we needed to heal our skinned knees - our skinned and broken hearts.

Now we’re traveling what we believe will be the last few miles of that road.  Our eyes are open, hungering still to see the beauty of this old world, but even more than that, to see our companion.

We want to look on his face, to absorb it, to mirror it, to know it!  We study his features, we listen to his voice, we try to inhale his words.  We wait!  We desire to know Him, and we’re not disappointed. 

He comes to us in the peace of the evening of our lives.  He greets us in the morning of each new day.  He speaks in the sunshine and the rain.  He sings a love song to us, and as we listen, we walk the road, turning another corner, moving on to what lies ahead.

I think we’ll just keep on walking straight into the arms of that companion who has been with us all along.  And then…..

May God grant me as many days as He has use for me on this old road, and may I continue in my quest to know more of the one who made me, who knew me better than I knew myself, and forgave me all my sins – OH Yes!  I’m forgiven and loved!