Endings

When is an ending not?  Is there any assurance that the disaster, pressure, or difficulty resident in your life or mine ending anytime soon?  Even if it seems to get better, is the evil gone for good? 
 
These are questions walking with me in life’s steps, probably similar to the ones you find familiar.  No matter how well prepared one might be it seems as if life taunts find their way to our ears.  Even if one knows, anticipates, and even rides the waves like a pro, the question of when it will finally be over linger long after the crisis subsides.  Life’s blues put to music help lighten the load, even if they seem to be words of irony instead of victory. 
 
One writer before me struggled with how to capture Divinity’s empathy for our blight.  The advice finally came in the following words; “when God has given you time to recover from the abuse and trouble and harsh servitude that you had to endure, you can amuse yourselves by taking up this satire, a taunt against the king of Babylon: ‘Can you believe it?  The tyrant is gone!  The tyranny is over!  God has broken the rule of the wicked, the power of the bully-rulers that crushed many people.  A relentless rain of cruel outrage established a violent rule of anger rife with torture and persecution.” (Isaiah 14.3-6)
 
There is far too much evidence of tyranny, in your life, mind, and especially in the world around us.  Inflicted violence, one human to another, is a reality that few even try to deny.  Dealing with it, struggling through the waves holding onto hope, and walking without giving up are freedom lie at the heart of our journey, but they are not the only things we must hold onto.  You and I have a roll to play in the lives of those around us.  We can, must, help Hope find its place in the lives of those we care about.  Every relationship moment is a window to the end where peace, compassion, and love are supreme.