Saturday, March 12, 2016

3 Tribes


When we reach the proverbial Pearly Gates –
obviously in the afterlife, as all humor assures us –
there will be at least three primary tribal cable cars,
and a pile of folks who can't make up
their minds about which one to board.

  The first car has stops labeled
  "Golden Paved Parkway",
  "Holy Harp Highway", and
  "Rulekeeper's Road".
  
The folks who race to a seat on this car –
ones you couldn't peel out with a pry bar –
are sure they're going to the mountaintop.

  They seem to have an incredulous
  facial expression, as if they can't believe
  some of the folks they've known for years
  are actually here with them.

I wonder if they might actually be stopping
back at kindergarten to learn rudimentary grace:
hold hands when crossing the street;
share what you have;
listen so you can learn;
forgive as you've been forgiven.

  The second car is hesitantly boarded
  by folks who aren't entirely convinced
  they should have been let through the gates.

They're looking over their shoulders
for a bouncer, sure that the ruse
will be up any minute.

  The stops on this car are labeled
  "Caboose AVE",
  "Skin of Teeth Street", and
  "Last Minute Reprieve LN".

These folks are convinced they're headed
for the Roach Trap Motel,
if not the Servants Headquarters.

  I think they might actually be headed
  for a big party - one thrown especially
  and specifically for each of them,
  where they'll see their own name
  written in the Lamb's Book of Life
  in the ink of love and the font of grace.

The third car doesn't really look like
it's on tracks that are going anywhere,
but the folks who are boarding it
don't seem to be concerned.

  They seem perfectly content to exit
  at stops labeled "Here Now HWY",
  "Leisurely Listening LN",
  and "Enough AVE".

If it looks like these people feel at home –
like they're natives - it's probably
because they realized long ago,
when the pretense and the pretending
fell away and they decided to live
a life of passion and abandon,
that both eternity and paradise
are present throughout our lives,
and not just a prize to try
and earn or fear losing.

  I want to be in the third car,
  but sometimes I find myself
  in one of the other two.
  How about you?

© 2016 Todd Jenkins

1 comment:

  1. I love this completely wild Prodigal story!!!

    ReplyDelete