We’ve all experienced that slice of time when we think that our momentary trial will soon be over. Relief is just a plop, plop, fizz, fizz, away! (Oh, what a relief it is!)
The race is over, the job is done, and the ending bell has rung.
When we look at life this way, we know that every portion of living can include an ending. As school kids we watched the clock, waiting for that final ringing of the bell. Day is done! It’s especially nice right before that summer or winter break!
I was sitting in a dentist’s
chair for a root canal. He could not get the tooth deadened and I so disliked the pain and could not stay still. I agreed to Nitrous Oxide (laughing gas?). He said it would immobilize me, I would still feel the pain, but it would help him have the 10 seconds he needed to break open the canal.Deadening the nerve was just 10 seconds away!
10 Seconds of pain. Hmmm. Can I handle it? Well, he gave me the gas, fired up the drill, started counting backwards, and by the time he hit zero it was all over. 10 seconds of excruciating pain.
Can you handle 10 seconds?
With all the options available, including a life time suffering of a bad tooth, I think 10 seconds are doable. But it was a blessing the moment he was finished!
Christian Songs About Life
Our Christian song libraries are replete with melodies that talk about finally being at home. Not the address you call home, rather, that place that is a reward after the race is well run.
It gives me pause to consider. Is this present life so horrible that I can only think about “there”? We live in a beautiful place, albeit these are uncertain times. I enjoy traveling to far flung places that have historical value. Equally, I enjoy a Robert Frost-ian walk through the snowy woods close to home. Hand-in-hand I have walked my adult life with my bride for nearly 50 years! Delicious!
Yet, death and separation, troubles and trials, heartaches and sicknesses… We all look forward to better times, and these often include better destinations.
For years I’ve talked about “The Journey Is The Destination” and how important is our path in this life. If we keep looking for the ending we’ll miss the pure joy of the trip.
For a song to be a favorite, it must have three things.
- A message that resonates with me.
- Words that flow so I do not stumble through them.
- A melody that is easy for me to sing.
Listening to a new singer, and with my hearing issues that seem to keep getting worse, I will pay attention to the song if I can understand the words coming out of your mouth! I’ve recently reconnected with Bryan Duncan, a singer from my past that I enjoyed but lost touch with. Why? For the reasons that a song must be my favorite. (Read the list above!)
Here’s My Thought Today
In all of the New Testaments, the Gospel of John uses a word that describes the momentary time of life. Little While. It’s a Greek word from which we get a host of modern words with the root of “Micro”. It’s barely used to indicate a short distance ahead, and seems to be more related to “time”. As in, “just a little while”.
“A little while, and ye shall not see me:
and again, a little while, and ye shall see me,
because I go to the Father.”
John 16:16 (KJV)
It is from this scripture that we get the phrase… Now you see me! Now you don’t!
One of my favorite songs deals with life, and then being there. Home. Heaven. I wonder where his thought came from?
Eugene Monroe Bartlett wrote a number of popular Christian songs (Victory in Jesus, Everybody Will Be Happy Over There). He was a prolific songwriter and mentored Alfred E Brumley, another Christian songwriter. This particular song came to life in 1921. It will be 100 years old next year!
I’ve noted the words that speak to me.
Just A Little While
Soon this life will all be over, and our pilgrimage will end,
Soon we’ll take our heav’nly journey, Be at home again with friends;
Heaven’s gates are standing open, waiting for our entrance there,
Some sweet day we’re going over, all the beauties there to share.
Refrain:
Just a little while to stay here, Just a little while to wait;
Just a little while to labor, In the path that’s always straight;
Just a little more of troubles, In this low and sinful state,
Then we’ll enter heaven’s portals, Sweeping thro’ the pearly gates.
Soon we’ll see the light of morning, then the new day will begin,
Soon we’ll hear the Father calling, “Come, my children enter in;”
Then we’ll hear a choir of angels, singing out the vict’ry song,
All our troubles will be ended, and we’ll live with heaven’s throng.
Soon we’ll meet again our loved ones, and we’ll take them by the hand,
Soon we’ll press them to our bosom, over in the promised land;
Then we’ll be at home forever, thro’out all eternity,
What a blessed, blessed morning, that eternal morn will be!
Written by E. M. Bartlett
One last thought…
Until then… my heart will go on singing.Until then… with joy I’ll carry on.
Until the day mine eyes behold that city.
Until the day God calls me home!