Words to Ponder…A
modern parable: The Life We Choose…Morrow Mirror…September 1, 2013
Stories
have been told throughout the ages to entertain and to inform the minds of others.
These stories sometimes have a literal
truth and/or a hidden truth within the words, the words to ponder.
There
once was a young man who traveled around the countryside in search of peace -
peace not for the world but for his soul. This may sound strange, but we are all
in search of peace, not a physical place where we can be safe from life’s
harms, but a spiritual place where our spirit can be at peace in the midst of
life. One day this young traveler was
sitting on a bench at a bus station waiting. Waiting not so much for the bus, but
for life to pass by. As he sat there on
the cold bench, frustrated for reasons he could not understand, an elderly employee
for the bus station approached him and asked, “Where are you going sir?” The young man answered with a hint of arrogance
in his voice: "To hell". Then he waved the elderly man away with
little concern for the harsh words spoken or for the pain his words might have
caused. Standing off to the side was a
minister who overheard the answer and was startled by the young man's cold
demeanor toward a stranger whom he knew nothing about, not his heart, not his
burdens, nor any of the man’s struggles. The young man knew nothing and cared nothing about
the stranger in his midst. In his eyes
the bus employee was an undesirable interruption to his self-imposed prison.
Later
on the bus the minister sat down in the seat across the aisle from the young
man. He watched him for a while, speaking a quiet prayer for strength as well
as for the young man's health and spirit.
After awhile he began a conversation hoping to connect with this trouble
soul. Soon into the conversation he
asked the young man when he expected to arrive at his journey's end! The young man said he did not know, because he
had several stops before he would arrive at the coast where he hope to board a
freighter to work his way across the sea. The minister responded that he meant
the place he had told the elderly gentleman at the bus station he was going, before
he got on the bus. The young man answered with a venomous tone, "Perhaps
it may be so."
So many in this world
have no hope for eternity and their answers to life's questions are often
filled with confusion and uncertainty. For Christians, however Christ is our
hope and He has all the answers (1 Tim. 1:1).
Eternity is not so much
a destination as it is a way of life. To live in hope or despair is a choice
made daily, a choice that affects the soul.
Words to ponder... In Christian Love, your pastor and friend in
Christ Dr. Ed Judy
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