Move On

Life is full of good places. Something about where we are makes us want to stay. But the process of living usually demands that we move on. We would like to stay in bed on a cold rainy day. Then responsibility rings, and we have to get up and move on. The beach, the lake, the mountains, or some exotic land may for a time be our good place, and we don’t want to leave. However, at some point reality comes calling for us to leave, to move on. We can look back and recall the good places we have left behind because of maturity and responsibility, work, various opportunities, illness, aging, death, or some tragedy.

Older people refer to “the good places” as the good old days. Some long for the good old days. We will never be able to go back to the good old days, although  some try. A high school basketball star cannot leave that good place of praise and popularity even at the age of forty or fifty. A jilted lover refuses to move on while the perceived love of his life has found another. An adult child won’t move on after the death of her parents even after many, many years. The beauty queen searches for the fountain of youth through all sorts of creams, gimmicks and procedures to hold on to her glamor. The world is full of those who refuse to move on from their good place.

We will never find peace and happiness if we are not willing to move on. The sad truth is those who don’t move on from  the good places of the past will never enjoy the good places of the present. Life is full of good places. Even in the waiting years good places abound. Each phase of life moves us a little closer to the best place. The final good place, the best place, is the place Jesus has already prepared for us. In the meantime remember fondly the good places, but don’t try to dwell there. Move on! Move on to the next good place until you reach the final one where you will remain forever.