Are You Looking for a Good Reason to Keep on Being?

Four hundred years ago, Shakespeare penned a speech for Macbeth, a character who needed a moment on stage to lament the meaningless, pointless nature of his own life:

Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow,
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day,
To the last syllable of recorded time;
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!
Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player,
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage,
And then is heard no more. It is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing.

Meaningless, pointless, hopeless.
Macbeth wrote off his life as an idiot’s babbling and of no account. Sadly, statistics reveal that a significant slice of the population would agree with McBeth in 2023, finding in their lives and their circumstances nothing that prevents them from numbing out or escaping in tragic ways.

Peter, Jesus’s fisherman apostle, reaches across 2,000 years with a life rope of hope that refutes MacBeth’s sad soliloquy. As believers, our life–our being– is awash in hope, not because our circumstances are any different from the rest of the population, but because of where our gaze is resting:

Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. 

1 Peter 1:13

A sober-minded hope does not waste its time on trivialities, but casts its glance back to a salvation established “before the foundation of the world,” and forward to a glorious future secured by the resurrection of Christ.

On what is your hope resting today? Does your BEING depend on a set of comfortable circumstances, the presence of a fulfilling relationship, or a healthy bank account? Even as believers, we lose our way and wander into a Jesus-Plus-Something-Else gospel.

It’s true that our lives here will end. Our bodies will turn to dust and all our precious possessions will crumble with time. These are facts we need to rehearse every day, and yet life is full of meaning and purpose because we interpret all of it, the pain and the progress, in light of eternity.

What does your life “signify?”
Are you convinced that your life can have meaning even if it doesn’t look the way you planned?

Our bodies will turn to dust. All our precious possessions will crumble with time. We need to rehearse this fact every day. Yet life is full of meaning and purpose because we interpret the pain and the progress in light of eternity.

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And Now, Let’s Talk Books!

Marcus Brotherton and Tosca Lee write with tremendous insight to the depths and heights of the human spirit, portraying luminescent heroism and dark depravity, sometimes on the same page. Images of the brand of cultural Christianity found in the deep south, the pressures of growing up in a ministry family, and the galvanizing impact of friendship communicate without interrupting the narrative flow or being even remotely preachy.

With drama and grit reminiscent of Laura Hillenbrand’s Unbroken, the captivating storyline kept me reading past a prudent lights-out for a couple of evenings. I found that I couldn’t stop rooting for the characters to somehow fulfill their vow to make it home together–even against unbelievable odds. The Long March Home is a well-written historical novel that laments the parts of history we wish had never happened and reveals the redemption that rises from the ashes of loss.

Holding You in the Light,

A well-written historical novel, #TheLongMarchHome laments the parts of history we wish had never happened and reveals the redemption that rises from the ashes of loss. @RevellBooks @ToscaLee

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P.S. Marcus Brotherton is one of my husband’s favorite fiction writers because of the book I reviewed HERE way back in 2015.

Did You Know that I Also Publish a Monthly Newsletter?

Every month I send a newsletter with biblical encouragement straight to my subscribers’ email inboxes. Frequently, I share free resources, and the newsletter is where everything lands first. I’m committed to the truth that women can become confident followers of God and students of his Word, and it’s my goal to help you along that path.

I am a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees. If you should decide to purchase any of the books or products I’ve shared, simply click on the image, and you’ll be taken directly to the seller. If you decide to buy, I’ll receive a few pennies at no extra cost to you.

Many thanks to Revell for providing a copy of this book to facilitate my review, which is, of course, offered freely and with honesty.