I walked a mile

“I walked a mile with Pleasure; She chatted all the way; But left me none the wiser For all she had to say. I walked a mile with Sorrow; And ne’er a word said she; But, oh! The things I learned from her, When Sorrow walked with me.”

― Robert Browning Hamilton

As we walk through life, we each experience a multitude of situations that will affect us one way or another. What we would call “good times” and “bad times”.

Sometimes we might think that to experience the “good times” we have to hit the heights of pleasure by being successful or wealthy in whatever we do, but these times can simply be enjoying friends and family, sharing laughter together. None of us want experience the “bad times” or sorrow that might be hallmarked by ill health, tragedy or the death of a loved one.

If we had a choice between pleasure or sorrow we would all choose pleasure, every time. But even pleasure when lived ‘under the sun’, lived for pleasure’s sake in meaningless. Everything needs to be lived in light of eternity not just the here and now.

1I said in my heart, “Come now, I will test you with pleasure; enjoy yourself.” But behold, this also was vanity.a 2I said of laughter, “It is mad,” and of pleasure, “What use is it?” Ecclesiastes 2:1-2 ESV

But God allowed sorrow, sickness and death to enter His arena for a very good reason. It is often said that we learn from our mistakes. Adam and Eve made a huge mistake in the garden of Eden which opened the floodgates for sin and sorrow to enter the world bringing with it sickness and death.

However, in spite of their great mistake, nothing is wasted with God. He can use sorrow and suffering to bring about His purposes if we allow it. Sadly, there are those who turn away in the face of “bad times” but those who hang on to faith will find refuge in the God who is there. When we are faced with tragedy it can either make us or break us.

The words penned here by Robert Browning Hamilton may ring true for many who have experienced tragedy, trauma, sickness and suffering.

Through the dark times of sorrow we can learn to reflect. We can learn to meditate on what life is really all about. We can take time to notice and treasure the small things in life. We can take seriously the psalmists plea for us to number our days.

Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom. Psalm 90v12 NIV

When we are experiencing pleasure through the “good times” we may not notice or have the time to reflect in quite the same way. We may take things and people for granted. We may forget that we are here today and gone tomorrow.

15As for man, his days are like grass; he flourishes like a flower of the field; 16 for the wind passes over it, and it is gone, and its place knows it no more. Psalm 103:15-16 ESV

None of us go in search of sorrow and suffering or persecution. But we may all experience these to some degree during our lifetime and when we do, we have a choice - we can either turn from them or learn from them. We can find God in them and through them and they can indeed make us wiser and help us appreciate the really important things in life.

Whatever “bad times” we may be going through right now, let’s allow those experiences to shape us, let’s learn from them and through them become more Christlike. Christ suffered the most horrific death imaginable in order to bring us forgiveness and eternal life and to show us the way to live a life that is focused on the suffering God seen in Christ.

In our suffering and sorrow, God suffers with us, He is walking us through these things to make us more like Him.