Some times will be good, blissfully heart bursting gratifyingly excellent and we will smile big and show all our teeth and laugh loudly, feel deeply, profoundly. Tears of joy will well in our eyes.
Other times will be miserable. Little consolation will be found. We will search for answers, wrestle with ourselves, with our enemy, sleep little, cry much. Tears of sadness will well in our eyes.
Then the sun will begin to shine again on the dark parts of our lives and we will see truth and hope and love and peace and idealism and our faith will be renewed. Restoration. There will be moments in between, mundane or monotonous where we question whether or not we could possibly do this again, go through the motions, yet another day. But we will. Because we must. His new mercies with the dawn will appear tangible and real, necessary to us. We will rely on them. Heavily. Fully aware of our own insufficiency and His supremacy.
Introductions will be made, goodbyes tearfully, reluctantly shared. Warm embraces with friends.
There will be too few hours in most days. Others will not end soon enough.
Contentment will spontaneously erupt every once in a while without effort. When we hold our child in our lap, warm and sleepy, smelling their soft skin or when we hear their voice as they speak their first true prayer. We will stop to see the colorful sunset pink and grey and yellow and purple on the horizon and we will know God is great and magnificent and unfathomable and our life is good, meaningful, lovely, worthwhile. We will breathe deeply and take it all in. There will be unabashed, pure rejoicing. A time to dance. And dark sorrow. A time to weep. Dessert seasons, days or weeks or months or years. Dry and scorched, cracking in the heat. Other seasons lush and green and tender, fully blossoming, everything in bloom, growing. Fresh and new. We will both bask in His grace and question His presence. Anticipation or dread of something new will crop up. We will see ourselves in others and see others in ourselves. We will fall down and disappoint, become discouraged, angry. We will inspire and encourage, lift and be lifted, receive honor. We will seek forgiveness, offer it freely, and choose to withhold what we know we should give. Our own sin will show its face and we will repent. Apologize. Then struggle with it again. Moments of elation and triumph will occur. Gratitude will be expressed. Grief, lamented. Words better left unspoken will be uttered, harshness shown in places gentleness was better suited. Regret.We will work hard and toil and strain and endure and experience sweet victory and agonizing defeat.

Life is like that, isn't it?

Most of us are doing the best we can with what we've got to work with on any given occasion. We will never fully arrive. Not on this earth. There is no there. We live and learn and grow and the cycles continue.

Heaven is our only There.