44

“I walked a mile with Pleasure,

    She chattered all the way,

But left me none the wiser

    For all she had to say.

 I walked a mile with Sorrow,

     And ne’er a word said she,

But, oh, the things I learned from her

     When sorrow walked with me!”

I came across these lines a few days ago, and they nudged something inside of me. Pleasure and sorrow. I know something of both, but much more about pleasure. I have had a very pleasant life through no effort or virtue on my part. From my earliest cognitive years (junior high school) I took whatever the day brought forth, and that was usually a pleasant way. When sorrow intruded, I fled as fast as I could, usually successfully and none the wiser. But there were times when I walked not so much with sorrow, but with regret, not with sorrow but with shame and embarrassment.  No useless chattering at those times. 

I suppose everyone since Adam and Eve’s time has walked with both pleasure and sorrow. That is God’s way, a way of mystery but a way of light, a way of repentance and a way of salvation, the way of Christmas and the way of Easter.