Both Sides Now

Joni Mitchell wrote this great song - Both Sides Now. Her interpretations are interesting, but kind of dark. Besides, her pitch center is sometimes a bit wobbly. Still, she is quite an amazing artist.  On YouTube you can find a number of her recordings.

I like Judy Collins' versions better. Her musicianship is superior and her voice more focused. Here is one she did with the Boston Pops in the late 70s.

Most women can relate well to this song's message. Sometimes things look one way to us, and then life teaches us to look at things another way.

When we are young, we tend to see only the beauty in things like clouds and relationships. After awhile, if we are not careful, we see only the dark side of life.

When we are young, we want to see life as always having a happy outcome, a happy fairytale ending. So we make choices about marriage, having children, and work thinking that only happy days are ahead. That is a good time of life, and there is nothing wrong with fairytales. Remember that in them there are also giants and witches and all kinds of evil things waiting to destroy the protagonists.

Of course, as we mature, we see that things do not always work out as we thought they would. We start to see the evil things that want to ruin our lives and the lives of those we love.

So, we are faced with new choices. Do we become angry and bitter, or even just melancholy with how things have turned out? Or do we look for something higher, something better, something yet to come that will wipe away all the tears of this life?

I guess all I have left to say on this for now is that those who believe in Jesus have a lot to look forward to. This life can offer only so much, and then it is gone. The Bible puts it this way.

James 4:14English Standard Version (ESV)

14 yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes.

Yet for those who trust Christ, this is what we have to look forward to.

Revelation 21 English Standard Version (ESV)

The New Heaven and the New Earth

21 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. 

2 And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem,coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.

3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. 

4 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”

Won't you trust Him?