This weekend is a double header in the Bible books: The Jewish holiday Passover and the Christian holiday Easter. I live among a family where both are slightly celebrated, albeit with some lightness of spirit and a religous ardor for eating and drinking versus reading from any books. After attending a “sort of Seder” last night with all the right symbolic foods, freshly homemade of course, and all the wrong examples for a traditional service – the youngest read the Four Questions from her IPad- I got up this sunny Spring morning and went online to refresh my memory about the stories of both Passover and Easter.
For me, Passover and Easter are symbolic in the same way the brightly colored flowers that are starting to bloom again refresh my languished yard. After a long winter and several months of life challenges, hope does spring eternal in the Spring. And as the days grow longer and brighter so does my attitude. Often this winter, as I faced dwindling income and rising concerns over our future, I would say to myself and friends, “This, too, shall pass over. We cannot lose hope. It will be better come Spring.”
Many of my family members and friends are in the process of passing over from a bad or or unfulfilling situation in their lives to a new beginning. Whether you voluntarily leave a dead end job you loathe or you are escorted out the door of company slicing its staff, this, too, shall pass over. If you or a loved one faces a health scare and months of treatment and worry and fear about the outcome, this, too, shall pass over. If the man you give your heart returns it broken, this, too, shall pass over. If you realize you have taken on more work, more committees, more debt, more stress, more of everything and you have to unload parts of your life to stabilize, this, too, shall pass over.
The stories of Passover and Easter both center first on pain and suffering, cruelty and hardship. There is a test of faith and a time of passage where people leave one life and move on to another. And then there is redemption. In the Old Testament, the Jews wandered forty years in the desert before settling in their new lives. In the New Testament Jesus rose up after his crucifiction and a paid few visits to people for three days before passing on to his afterlife.
For me the story line is more secular but similar and one I truly believe: If the life you currently live is not treating you well, you can, with effort, pass onward to one that will make you happier. It may take some time (hopefully not 40 years but definitely not three days!). It will test your faith in yourself and it will test your relationships with those you hold close. But whatever happens and however long it takes, do not lose hope.
Do not let opportunities pass by you; do not let people pass you over, or let time pass away too long without reaching out and making an effort to make a change. We only pass through this life once. Do not live it passively. Act on your dreams; follow your passion.
And remember, if you it a bump in the road, remind yourself, “This, too, shall pass over.”
