Good-Bye Now

There is a fable about two brothers who had become sheep thieves. They were caught, and branded with the letters S.T. (Sheep Thief).

The one brother left town, but wherever he went, people asked about the letters, and sooner or later, they found out, and he moved from place to place, finally dying, without peace or friends. The other brother stayed…lived humbly, and supported himself honestly. He helped the needy and gradually, people hardly noticed the brand. One day, a stranger came, and asked one of the residents about the person with the strange brand. “I’ve forgotten the details,” he said, “it happened a long time ago, but I think it stands for ‘saint’!”

Now and then, thank God, sinners do become saints, and they do it by faithfully going on from one level of grace to another. Life is a process of saying “good-bye”. We say “good-bye” to what was, and “hello” to that which is to come. We say “good-bye” to mistakes and sins, and move on to victories and achievements. It is not easy to be good, but it is worth it. And whether we be 30 or 90, life is really the struggle of the soul to be born. If we try to short-cut the process, by going the easy road of compromise, then we end in defeat.

We all remember the “good-byes” of leaving for school, or watching our children getting married, or the agony of separation from those we love when death affirms its claim. But “good-bye now” is always a necessary part of growth. Paul said, “I die daily” (I Cor. 15:31), and there is something that dies within us, when we leave one situation to go into something new or different. There is struggle, but without struggle, without the agony of separation, we have no new frontiers, and the heart cannot fly.

The poet has said, ”Heaven is not reached by a single bound, but we build the ladder by which we rise, from the lowly earth, to the vaulted skies, and we mount to its summit, round upon round.” (Gradatim—Josiah Gilbert Holland)

The phrase “good-bye now” is actually a perversion of the old farewell, “God by you now”. You may find yourself in deep sorrow over the necessity of leaving someone, or something, or some special place in your heart, but if you can believe that God is by you now, you will have taken a significant stride in faith. And the victory is not so far away.