September 16, 2025

Dear Friends,

“Is it worth it?” “What am I doing this for?” These are the questions that cause you to wake up at night or, in the event that you are already awake, keep you from going right back to sleep. They are good questions, razor sharp in their ability to cut through all our pretence and get to the core of our motivation and values.

I thought about this today as I re-read the account of Jewish exiles finally returning to the Holy Land and standing on the burned and looted sight of what once had been the centre of their lives and annual routines. Gazing at new foundations they had so recently laid, the author gives us a unique glimpse into their mindset. In the first place, they praised God for the fact that they were actually back in their homeland after some fifty years. Then the author records a certain dissonance for us. The older people among them looked at what was before them and didn’t see new beginnings as much as they saw evidence of past sins and failures. And, seeing these things, they cried.

The younger folks saw foundations that were all about possibility. Sure, the immediate outlook was grim but they were back in their own land. God had fulfilled the prophecy of Jeremiah. Foundations were laid. A new temple would soon take shape on that very spot. They praised God.

Interestingly, the author tells us that the crying was indistinguishable from the singing. To the listener, it was mainly a loud noise, a noise that was rooted in the two questions above.

Pain and hope are constant realities in our lives. The pain can be physical or mental, deep and lasting, or temporary. It can be self-inflicted (none of us are really “the brightest bulb in the pack”) or forced upon us by circumstances or others. You won’t really live without pain.

Hope, on the other hand, is trickier. There are so many substitutes available to us. They promise us much but fail to deliver in the crunch or over the long haul.

We have it on good authority (the teaching of scripture coupled with the testimony of the lives of God’s faithful people through the centuries) that there is a hope that can literally anchor our souls. That hope is articulated and embodied by Jesus. Joy that he saw as assured was in the distance but it enabled him to endure the cross and despise the ignominy of it. He knew the value of what he was doing and he was assured that it was ultimately worth it.

You have a life before you and you don’t know how long or short it will be. You will only fill what Kipling called “the unforgiving minute” if you are clear about your purpose and your hope. Yes, you are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses but none of them can make you run your race. You have to choose that course. Be sure you know why. When the challenges come, that solid choice will keep you running and get you across the finish line.

Blessings!

Doug