A Short Walk… That Never Ends

“Life is a short walk along a narrow thread . . . beginning and ending in a mysterious unknown. Hope keeps us balanced as we walk the narrow line. Life is short as we see it, but in reality . . . never ends⎯and, long or short, it is all that we have.”

Life is all we have. There are times when we would like to keep it as it is, freeze it, in a sense; keep it from changing⎯times when we have our families and friends around us, when we have enjoyed some success, when we are in health and happiness. There are lovely days and lovely hours which we dislike leaving behind, but we are ever more aware that we cannot hold on to any hour.

Sometimes we have regrets, and wonder what would have happened if we had done differently⎯but we can’t go back. We must always move ahead⎯always with some problems, with some unanswered questions, with some uncertainties, with some seeming injustices. We often feel we would like to see the future, and often feel we would like to change the past. There are some experiences we would like to eliminate from life, and some we would like again to live⎯to re-run part of the picture.

But as to the whole picture, we are in no position to appraise it. We see only a short segment, and must learn to live with the faith and solid assurance that the record and accounts are being kept, that the books will be balanced, that all will receive all they are entitled to, and that no one will be unjustly dealt with in the eternities that follow time.

Life is all we have⎯a life of endless length; and there is great purpose and meaning and reason for living, and reason for learning, for trying, for trusting, for improving, for repenting, with a great gratitude for family and friends, with a great appreciation of the importance of principles, and great compassion for people and their problems.