So It Goes

Kurt Vonnegut's books Slaughterhouse Five asks an intriging question--what it we could look at time sideways? Suppose, instead of looking at time from within its stream, we could look at time from somewhere outside of it.
In Vonnegut's novel, there is a race of aliens who can do just that--see life in its totality from one end to another.  Their view of life then becomes interesting.  Instead of seeing a moment's tragedy, they see it from the perspective of a lifetime of happiness. A person who may suffer in death may have lived a blessed life for decades. A person who seems to have a peaceful tiime now may have experienced a lifetime of misery. We judge the moments as we see them. But we do not see them as they relate to other moments in time 
In Vonnegut's book,  these aliens developed an expression that encapsulated all ther philosophical knowledge "so it goes."  Something is not good or bad, but it is part of a stream that is both good and bad.  Bad things happen to good people.  Good things happen to bad people. It is God who sorts it all out in the end.
I think of Vonnegut's book often when I stand with people who are experiencing tragedy. Life is not permanent. It has a beginning and an ending.  If we believe there is a God in heaven, adn that one day we will be with Him, we must also accept the idea that death is going to happen in this world. Along with death will come sickness and pain. If we accept the fact that love exists, in a world tha tincludes death, we must also accept the fact that grief will exist as well.  We cannot keep the tears from coming, nor can we deny that grief is the flip side of love. So it goes.
That's why I feel frustrated with people who must judge every moment as being good or bad. We say "I am having a bad day," or "I am having a good day" or (as my grandchildren like to say ) "I am having the worst day ever. In truth, all we can know at any given moment is that we are having a day. We do not know whether the ultimate consequences of what happens in it will be to our benefit or loss, or whether the consequences of that benefit or loss that may bring will be our ultimate salvation or destruction. We jsut do not know. We only know that days come and go. God knows the rest. 
"To everything there is a season" The cycles of the days turn and the last season returns.  Today is not worse than yesterday, only diferent from tomorrow. 
Contemplating this moment in my life, and in my church's life, I cannot help but wonder how it all must look to God, who looks at time from His throne outside and time and space.  How foolish we are that we can ever think we can understand it in the way He does. 
So it goes.  The best we can do, it seems to me, is to trust God and to enjoy the time we have.