Strangers in a Foreign Land

It has come to my attention that Life is hard. Too many obstacles, too many emotions, too many people on the road, too many messages being thrown at me, too much crying. Life is just hard. Period.

I started wondering why we expect life to be easy. If life is always and has always been this difficult, why would we expect something easy? The only thing I can rationalize is that we have the desire for an easier life planted in our hearts and souls. We crave and long for something easier - the feeling you get when you chat with an old friend. It's familiar; it's safe; it's home. But most of the time, the life that we experience is like trying to respond to an emergency where your only source of information is coming from a mute stranger. There's a lot of charades and guessing involved.

But Jesus talked about this very thing: how eternity is embedded in our very souls, in the core of our being, and how we would never feel familiar or safe here because here isn't our home. We are strangers in a foreign land where things are backward and upside-down. Of course there are too many obstacles here, and of course we feel too many emotions. We were meant for something different than this life; we were made for Life. Eternal Life. The too many emotions that we feel, for the most part, is really compassion. I mean, once we get over the overwhelmed part, we start to respond to the hurt, the tears, and the pain. We start to help others heal, or we start to help ourselves heal. We feel compassion, and it compels us to be better people and do better things in this life. And I think that is when we really begin to experience the other side of Life, the eternal side. The Life we were made for.

This is my Father's world.
O let me ne'er forget
That though the wrong seems oft so strong,
God is the ruler yet.
This is my Father's world;
Why should my heart be sad?
The Lord is King; let the heavens ring!
God reigns; let all earth be glad!

-D