Charlie Brown famously said, “Sometimes I lie awake at night and I ask, ‘Is life a multiple choice test or is it a true or false test?’
“Then a voice comes to me out of the dark and says, ‘Life is neither. It’s a thousand word essay.”’
Over the years I’ve been writing my essays and sometimes, on a rainy day, when I sit back and read what I’ve written, I smile.
Charlie Brown got it pretty much right.
Charlie has always been someone who for me mirrors my own experience of life:
- a little bitter,
- a little sweet,
- never easy.
- Charlie’s stumbles are quiet reminders of our need for grace and the promise that is Easter.
- Charlie’s persistence reminds us to never let the hard parts of life turn us into someone we’re not.
- Charlie reminds us we can always keep going without needing to feel brave.
Charlie demonstrates each day is a new episode in the drama of your life.
So on this Easter let’s take in a little Charlie Brown wisdom.
And be reminded again how to navigate the space between falling down and getting up, between losing faith and finding hope.
But first, a thought from Snoopy:
“Are you upset little friend? Have you been lying awake worrying?
Well, don’t worry. I’m here.
- The flood waters will recede,
- the famine will end,
- the sun will shine tomorrow,
and I will always be here to take care of you.”
Like Charlie Brown, I often find life baffling, frustrating, and insecure…
And oh so very — exasperating!
For the longest time in my early life I played the lone ranger, never learning to be a team player.
How often did I make the same mistakes over and over again by refusing to take the advice of others…
Only to be reminded the hard way as long as I kept doing the same things the same way I’d keep finding myself flat on my back.
How good it is to know there are some people who stayed in my life no matter how many times I fell down or how many mistakes I made…
And who are always willing to offer friendly advice when the going gets rough and I’ve forgotten all the lessons I thought I had learned…
And then were with me at that miraculous moment when, once and for all, I stopped making the same mistake.
It’s so good to know during these days of ever-present darkness there is at least one someone willing to stand with me when it’s raining outside…
Even when all hope is gone, it’s dark, and it feels like tomorrow will never come…
Reminding me if I just hang on a little longer a little hope will be thrown my direction.
So on Easter let’s remember this piece of wisdom.
I think Easter is just a quiet way of saying we get another chance. Hope shows up in small ways, even when we’re not sure it will.
And sometimes…
…it’s best we stand back and press the refresh button.
Easter has arrived !!!!
Just a thought…
Pat