Moving On

Last night I had a weird dream.

I was on holiday in a foreign city. My friends all left me. I was given a van, but the roads out of the city were blocked; then someone drove my van away. I couldn’t speak the language, I had no money, I was lost and alone. I couldn’t move on.

I met Peter yesterday. I’ve known Peter for many years, but I’d not seen him for a while. He’d had heart surgery; his wife was ill with cancer. ‘How’s your good lady?’ I asked.

‘She died last month,’ Peter replied. We chatted about how he’s coping, how his family are supporting him. He’s a good man, in a really tough place, working out how to move on.

The priest and monk Martin Luther renounced his vows of celibacy and got married. He says:

‘Marriage is not an affair of nature. It is a gift of God. It is the sweetest and dearest and purest state. When it turns out well it is far better than being unmarried. But when it turns out ill it is hell.’

Luther moved on – to be a loving husband and father.

This morning I read Paul’s words about ‘perseverance and faith in all the persecutions and trials you are facing.’

He was talking about moving on in difficult times. To get through the dark lonesome valley you must keep moving on.

Stevie Wonder sung:
Like a long lonely stream
I keep running towards a dream
Moving on, moving on…

It’s a song about the plight of African-Americans in the 1960s. Carrying a heavy load through troubled times, they kept moving on; they had hope for something better; ‘I have a dream…’:

There’s a place in the sun
Where there’s hope for everyone
Where my poor restless heart’s gotta run…

This morning I pray that I will move on with Stevie Wonder’s hopes and dreams, Paul’s perseverance and faith, and Martin Luther’s sense of family. I pray that Peter will too.