The train ride and the Conductor

Sometimes I think life is like a train ride. We don’t really have a choice as to what train we climb aboard. We do have a choice as to what we do with the ride. The ride encompasses different terrains and sceneries. Sometimes I look out and it’s beautiful and exciting. Other times it’s quite monotonous and I wonder if the scenery will ever change. Of course it does. I’m not sure that I am as grateful and appreciative as I should be for the wonderful vistas or as patient as I would like to be to ride out the drudgery. Sometimes it feels like I coast along on the ride without too much effort. Things just roll along in life and all seems relatively manageable. Other times I feel like the train is heading straight uphill and it’s just plain difficult. I wonder if I’ll ever reach the top. In the midst of the struggle I don’t usually remember to praise God. That’s so hard to do, yet it’s the very thing that redirects my gaze to Him instead of the hill I am climbing.

At times throughout my life I have forgotten to look where I was going. I have gone in precarious directions and ended up in places that definitely did not offer a good vista or a safe track. When I awakened from my stupor I would ask, “how did I get here?” Simple. I thought I knew better and forgot to seek the Conductor, as He does know best. There have been times the train was runaway and was going faster than what was comfortable; maybe even at a frightening speed. There have been times I just wanted to get off the train. There are still times I want to get off. Any train station will do and just check out for a while, lose myself in whatever I can lose myself in. I know that isn’t what the Conductor would want. He would ask me to lose myself in Him.

I guess Jesus’ life would have, in some ways, paralleled the train ride. He had times that were easier and more enjoyable; times that may have been tedious and unrewarding; and He had incredibly agonizing and heartbreaking times. But He endured. He persevered. He didn’t despair. He clung to hope.

I really want the Conductor to direct the train. I’d like to accept the terrain I am going through- in other words surrender. Ride through in peace or lose myself in Him. Accept where I am. Give thanks for the scenery and trust the Conductor knows where we are going.