Snoopy, dressed as a wilderness scout guide, stands with Woodstock and company at the foot of a snowy hill. Everyone carries a backpack and canteen.
The troops crane their necks, silently gazing wa-a-a-ay up as Snoopy informs them,”This is the hill we’re going to climb.”
Obediently they fall into line and start trudging.
Woodstock asks, “/ | \ \ /?”
“Then what? Then we’ll stand at the top, and see the whole world,” Snoopy replies.
They hike further and the path rises steeply.
Woodstock repeats his question: “/ | \ \ /?”
“Then what? Then we’ll hike back down again,” Snoopy expands further.
More hiking follows, all of it uphill, so you are not surprised when Woodstock presses once more: “/ | \ \ /?”
Without taking his eyes off the path, Snoopy decisively puts an end to the line of questioning.
“Stop saying, ‘Then what?’ ”
!!
…………………………………………………………………………………………
Snoopy’s exchange with his fine feathered friends reminds me of being a kid in the back seat of our family car, traveling, traveling, traveling with four younger brothers. We’d pass the time looking for license plates, holding our breath in tunnels, telling on one another when someone crossed over our side of the line, and asking in time-honored tradition: “Are we almost there yet? How soon before we get there? Well, are we almost there YET?”
I have a lot of sympathy for Woodstock wanting to know specifically what his hike would entail. These days, I’d like to flip to the end of my life’s book and see how the story turns out, too. But I know I have to go page by page like everyone else in the world.
Yet though I can only go page by page, day by day, sometimes minute by minute, there’s comfort in the simple reality that even trudging will bring me closer to my destination. All any of us have to do is keep putting one foot in front of the other. Left–right–left–right all the way to the end.
My friend put it, “Do the next thing.” In the early days of loss and catching my breath, I found this concrete advice particularly helpful. It helped me know how to have one eye on the future while being present in the nitty gritty. Think ahead, but wash the dishes. Pray for direction, and mail the bills. I had questions on how to get myself and my family to the top of the steep, snowy hill we had just been called to climb, yet I couldn’t think far ahead. I could barely find my snow boots and canteen.
What helps now is what has helped from the first: following right behind a faithful, good Guide. He’s the only One who knows how this story will turn out, where this path goes. It’s true I have question upon question as I chart so much new-to-me territory, but it’s also true
Do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.
Matthew 6:34