The Ups and Downs Racetrack

Wouldn’t it be lovely if our lives were always happy and on the up side of existence? There is, however, no guarantee that our lives will not have bumps and crashes.  We get to experience some of these bumps and crashes vicariously as we take in the news from around the World each day, knowing that in many cases it could be us in the news.

As we live out our lives, there is always the potential that things can get better, stay the same or get worse. Whatever the nature of our lives, there is always the potential for change. These changes can turn on a dime. Life can change course very quickly. Depending on the circumstances, it can be either good or bad, but either way it can be rapid.

There are basically two kinds of “down changes” that can happen to us. One is due to something beyond our control. The other is due to choices we make in living out our lives. Either way, life can be painful at times. We have little or no control over the one kind of down change, but we can have something to say about our choices in life.   

Aerosmith singer and songwriter, Steven Tyler, had some insight about this up and down life in his tune, Dream On. In part he wrote:
“Every time that I look in the mirror
All these lines on my face getting clearer
The past is gone
It went by like dusk to dawn
Isn't that the way
Everybody's got their dues in life to pay…”

Tyler continues in his tune by talking about life and the questions people have about where we come from and what happens when life ends:                                                                                               
“Yeah, I know nobody knows
Where it comes and where it goes
I know it's everybody's sin
You got to lose to know how to win….”

Tyler talks about information he’s sought in life and how that effects life’s outcome:                          
“Half my life's in books' written pages
Live and learn from fools and from sages
You know it's true
All the things you do, come back to you…”

There seems to be a spiritual tone of seeking in Tyler’s lyric. He actually wrote this tune when he was 17 years old and touched it up later.  It is pretty deep thinking for a person that young and you wonder if he is possibly seeking God in his life.

In his closing verse, Tyler refers to ups and downs in life and then mentions the Lord in writing: 
“Sing with me, sing for the year
Sing for the laughter and sing for the tear
Sing with me, if it's just for today
Maybe tomorrow the good Lord will take you away…..”

We can look at scripture for a deeper understanding of the things Tyler was commenting on and seeking to understand. Of course Ecclesiastes 3:1-9 certainly informs us of the ups and downs of life as it begins in saying: 
“To everything there is a season,
a time for every purpose under heaven.” It then goes on to name about every up and down you can think of e.g. “A time to be born, and a time to die….. A time to break down, and a time to build up….” And so on.

In Philippians 4:12-13 St. Paul tells us: “I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me.”

In 1^st Corinthians 13:7 we are reminded:   “Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.” And in Romans 12:12 we hear: “ Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer.”

Our challenge is to trust in the Lord in all things and be patient and accepting in all that happens to us in our lives, even though Ecclesiastes tells us in part that we must live out our lives with: “…..a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; a time to throw away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; a time to seek, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to throw away….”