“Finally, beloved, whatever is true, whatever is honourable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. Keep on doing the things that you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, and the God of peace will be with you.”
Sometimes life can seem relentless. It’s like constantly climbing a never-ending steep hill, when at every turn, just when we think the top is in sight, there’s another steep climb. The narrow road can seem so awfully narrow, steep and unforgiving when it seems to go on and on and on. As Tolkien wrote “The Road goes ever on and on / Down from the door where it began. / Now far ahead the Road has gone, / And I must follow, if I can,” (JRR Tolkien, “Roads go ever on and on” https://allpoetry.com/Roads-Go-Ever-On) although we don’t always feel like following it with “eager feet”. Sometimes it is a slow trudge, our backpacks full of stuff, of worry, of fear, of sadness. Especially when we do not know when or how the road will end.
But we trudge on. We manage – and suddenly there is an opening of the road ahead, the path clears of obstacles and flattens out for a while. We can catch our breath, settle our hearts from pounding, and our journey seems a little less arduous. Often, it is because we have been able to empty our backpacks – sometimes because someone has taken a burden from us or shared it with us; sometimes because we have been able to lay a burden down; sometimes because what seemed troublesome, to be feared, turned out to be ok, really. Sometimes it is because we have felt our loads lifted from us, somehow, taken up by someone else for a short time, at least as we work things through. Sometimes it is because situations have turned and been transformed, and what seemed steep and difficult has become safer, easier, doable.
Of course, we are not on our own on our journey. In The Lord of the Rings, Frodo has eight companions, and even at the end of his task he still has his faithful Sam with him – in fact, without Sam the task could not have been achieved. We seldom travel alone, unassisted. If we would just look around us, there is always someone to turn to, to encourage us, help us up the steep bits, share the load. And we are there walking beside them – sharing their load, sharing their path, helping them along. We are a wonderful community who do look out for each other, who are willing to bear each other’s burdens, listen to each other’s concerns, troubles and fears, knowing that we too will be listened to, cared for, loved.
But of course, none of us is ever truly alone. Within our darkest night, God is there. “O Lord, you have searched me and known me. You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from far away. You search out my path and my lying down,
and are acquainted with all my ways.” (Psalm 139.) We cannot escape the love, the concern, the compassion of God: “Where can I go from your spirit? Or where can I flee from your presence? If I ascend to heaven, you are there; if I make my bed in Sheol, you are there. If I take the wings of the morning and settle at the farthest limits of the sea, even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me fast.” (Psalm 139.) And in our epistle for this week, this is promised to us: “ Keep on doing the things that you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, and the God of peace will be with you.” God will be with us, will watch over us, over our going out and our coming in, even to the end: “I come to the end — I am still with you” (Psalm 139). “The Lord will keep you from all evil; he will keep your life. The Lord will keep your going out and your coming in from this time on and for evermore.” (Psalm 121.)
So, however far the road stretches ahead, if we cannot see the end, the top, the summit, round the next corner, we know that we do not walk alone. We walk together and we walk with God, or rather, God walks with us, as guide, comforter and fellow traveller: “one more step along the world I go, from the old things to the new, keep me travelling along with you” (Hymn 595). God knows our every step, travels with us. And God will keep us going, beside the still waters, through the green meadows and up the steep mountains. And if we can know God’s presence with us, then we can be reassured. Our journey may still be arduous, we may need to turn to others, to God, to take the burden sometimes, but we will find the path and will be given the strength to follow it, and it will lead us home: “But I at last with weary feet / Will turn towards the lighted inn, / My evening-rest and sleep to meet.” (Tolkien, “Roads go ever on and on” https://allpoetry.com/Roads-Go-Ever-On) And perhaps if we do think about, keep in mind, “whatever is true, whatever is honourable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise”, then perhaps this will lighten our burden, lighten our journey, and speed on our weary feet, knowing that there is beauty and hope and love and things worthy of praise in our lives and that these little glimmers of hope will lead us forward when things seem dark and stormy and the road steep and unrelenting.
The Road goes ever on and on
Down from the door where it began.
Now far ahead the Road has gone,
And I must follow, if I can,
Pursuing it with eager feet,
Until it joins some larger way,
Where many paths and errands meet.
(Tolkien, “Roads go ever on and on” https://allpoetry.com/Roads-Go-Ever-On)
Revd Jackie Sellin