A friend sent me an anonymous short story comparing the journey of life to a trip on a train. I toyed with the words, enhancing their spiritual nature. Enjoy this embellishment touching our truth.
When we are born, our creator pushes us from the womb into the world. “Welcome aboard the train of life!” Our inner circle expands from God’s constant care to include the presence of our earthly parents. As wide-eyed kids, we naively believe that our mom and dad will always be traveling on the cushioned seat right beside us. Yet at some station down the track, each of our parents will step down from the train, leaving us with God’s inner strength to carry on. As time chugs along, other people board life’s train, and they too become our dearly loved. Our siblings and our friends, our teachers and our mentors, our soulmates and our children join us on our journey down the rickety tracks.
None of us stays on earth’s train forever; this is an unavoidable fact of life. As loved ones step down, they leave an aching void. Other people exit unnoticed, less missed. Offering a panoramic perspective, life’s train climbs up gorgeous mountains and descends frightening valleys. Each unique trip down the track of life is chocked full of joys and sorrows, hopes and hurts, hellos and goodbyes. Living well means developing a vibrant relationship with a wide variety of fellow passengers, welcoming new people often and open-heartedly while investing in old relationships, sturdy and strong. If we give freely to others our God-given best, we will eventually step down from earth’s train without regret.
Every one of us rides into the unsettled unknown. We have no idea when it will be our turn to leave the familiarity of our cozy seat. There is nothing better to do than to live each day loving, forgiving and sharing ourself fully, enjoying life wide-open and well-grounded. When it comes our time to exit earth’s train, we want beautiful memories to linger long with those traveling down life’s bumpy track.
So I made up my mind that there’s nothing better for us men and women than to have a good time in whatever we do – that’s our lot (Ecclesiastes 3:22a, MSG).
Live life aware. Travel in truth. Express gratitude often. Someday we will all experience a brief season of separation until we reunite on heaven’s higher ground.
