The Train Journey

Linda Dye would like to share this:

Life is like a journey on a train, with its stations, with changes of routes and accidents! At birth we boarded the train, met our parents and believe they will always travel on our side. At some point our parents step down from the train leaving us to continue to journey alone. As time goes by other people will board the train; They will be significant perhaps siblings, children, friends and maybe the love of our life. Many will step down and leave a permanent space. Others will go unnoticed that they have vacated their seats. 

The train journey will be full of joy, sorrow, fantasy, expectations, hellos and goodbyes. The success of our journey consists of having a good relationship with all passengers, and that requires us to give the best of ourselves. The mystery is we do not know at which station we will step down so we must live in the best way. LOVE and FORGIVE and offer the best of who we are. It is important to do this because when we step down and leave our seat empty, we should leave beautiful memories for those who continue to travel on the train of life without us.                               

                                                           

Linda's spiritual contribution reminds me of recent pronouncements about the coronavirus by Jonathan Van-Tam, the Deputy Chief Medical Officer for England. A few weeks ago he offered an extended analogy of a train journey to illustrate the situation with the virus. Obviously we are currently told to avoid inessential travel, but  we can use our memories. He has now added a second one, which was a more hopeful illustration of the new vaccines bringing us hope of arriving in dye course at our required destination. Even Professor Chris Whitty has added a transport metaphor, having stated that it is "the equivalent of us saying these are icy and treacherous conditions" and like speeding down an icy road at 70 mph. No wonder we all stayed at home.

We are all journeying together on this planet, as Sir David Attenborough reminded us in his new TV series A Perfect Planet (highly recommended!). He reminded us of the wonder that we are in such an ideal place in the universe, on the only known planet to support life. We journey round our star, the sun, with all the means to support life. That sense of wonder is something of which should remind ourselves when our lives feel constricted for a while, and when we allow ourselves to focus only on our own situation. We have a connectedness to all things, on this journey of life, and we have a sacred responsibility to care for our world and its inhabitants. For believers, the reason for the journey is to learn to care and to follow Jesus' way of love, to share the truth which we feel will direct our lives towards an eternal harmony with our creator - to "do justly, love mercy and walk humbly with God" (Micah 6.8)