Just Passing Through

I did something earlier in the week that I had, at one time, told myself I would never do again.  I watched a Lassie movie.  I knew what it would do to me.  Yes, floods of tears as dear Lassie was lost from her family.  Oh, the perils she undertook to try and get back home.

This Lassie movie was set in England.  An out-of-work miner sells Lassie out of desperate need to feed his family.  The little boy, who loved Lassie, was heart broken.  Lassie wasn’t pleased with the new arrangement either.  Taken hundreds of miles from the home she knew, Lassie escapes and begins a journey to the place she knows is home.  Over mountains, through rivers, breaking free from the dog catcher, and finally trudging through snow and frigid temperatures, Lassie makes it home.  It’s against all odds.  How could she have made it through such hardship and difficulty?  Going home to the little boy she loved was her motivation.  He would be waiting for her and all would be well.

As I wiped the tears of joy from my face at the sight of this family reunion with their beloved pet, my thoughts took a sudden turn.  You and I are a lot like Lassie, far away from home.  None of us are exempt from traveling life’s journey without difficult times.  Sometimes we may find ourselves wondering  how we will get through some particular calamity.  Tears come, hearts break, grief takes hold — the list could go on.  Even so, we press on.  As Christians, we know the hardships of this present world are temporary.  There will most certainly come a time when earth’s journey is over; we will finally make it home.  Jesus will be waiting with open arms.  Everything we have endured on our long journey home will be worth it all when we see His face, look into His eyes, and feel the warmth of pure love wash over us.

Are you going through a hard time?  Are the mountains of challenge too steep?  Rivers of possibility too deep to fathom?  Just keep walking forward; stay focused on the point of the journey.  Never lose sight of your heavenly destination.  You and I will, of a certainty, get home; what a wondrous day that will be.

“May you be filled with joy, always thanking the Father, who has enabled you to share the inheritance that belongs to God’s holy people, who live in the light.  For He has rescued us from the one who rules in the kingdom of darkness, and he has brought us into the Kingdom of His dear Son.”  Colossians 1:11-13