What will it be like on the other side?
Will the path that I walked be fairly straight forward with minimal undulation? Will it appear like a jagged road that crosses back and forth so often that it could serve as stitch work on a wound? I hope that there will be a visible path with a beginning and end and not an endless loop of a vinyl record that causes the needle to skip or a GIF that the divine watch for their own amusement. No. I am certain there is a path of some kind, because I know that I am not standing still. Too much has been seen, felt, tasted and heard.
What will it be like on the other side?
We know that what surrounds us is only temporary, but there is also an inescapable feeling that we walk among that which is eternal. There is a real presence of darkness while at that same time it cannot shut out the Light. Fear gives birth to self righteous anger whose bedfellow is hate and there is no mistaking the power that it has on us. We take our steps, made weary by these powers whose purpose is to drive out hope. Yet hope remains as long as love is shared. Sharing is made possible not by our own feeble attempts, but by the gift freely given from the Light.
What will it be like on the other side?
The answer is not impossible to glean for we see it, albeit dimly, at this very moment. Where there is unity among born strangers to bear one another’s burdens, it is there. Where there is striving to reconcile among sworn enemies whose steps take them towards forgiveness, it is there. Where there is someone speaking up for the voiceless demanding life be made just, it is there.
What will it be like on the other side?
Look. Listen. Believe.
The Light is teaching us. Grace is our guide. It flowed from His pierced side.
Rev. Shawn J. Smith 