As kids we have only heard of stories of Kings and Queens, when we let our imaginations run wild with the sparkly diamonds and rubies on their crowns, the gold and the glitter on their long flowing gowns, their immaculate gloves and impeccable manners, the thousands of servants running hither thither to cater to their needs, golden plates and silver spoons, exquisite paintings and beautifully carved furniture, the acres of green grass with gallant horses and cuddly dogs, orchards and rivers as their backyards, trim soldiers to salute and people who bow down every time they cross their path. Strangely we have witnessed it all, live, in the life of Queen Elizabeth II. She is the only queen we all know since we were kids and it is disheartening to learn today she is not here with us anymore. What a supremacy, legacy, grit, devotion to people and country, a sovereign monarch who was obligated to doing her duty even two days before her death! Wow.
Life in a palace looks “palatial” (for lack of a better adjective!) from the outside as spectators but as little as she spoke, only a one-on-one intimate candid conversation with the queen herself, with the calm and composed lil’ lady who ruled Great Britain for the longest period in history, can actually reveal what she actually experienced while living in the palace. Through all ups and downs of life, the ‘loyalty’ and the ‘betrayals’ of family and friends, subordinates and comrades, ‘praises’ at times and ‘scrutiny’ many a times of people and media alike, the cringe beneath the ‘unwavering’ smile and ‘waving’ hands, from witnessing a brave hearted generation that faced World War II head-on to a generation that fell helplessly face forward to Covid-19, from revolutionizing her televised coronation to facing instant internet wildfire defamation, she must have seen it all, heard it all, experienced it all – the births of children, the laughter of grandchildren, the toll of wedding bells to the gunshots at funerals, the prideful handshakes with presidents of many nations to a humble bow down before Diana’s coffin, the joy and the tears, as a mom, grandmom and wife, let alone a Queen under public eyes but she held all these matters in her heart calmly and solemnly. I wonder what her conversation with herself in the stillness of the night would have been like over the years? I wonder what she would say if asked, “Was is it a great life? Was the crown worth it?” I humbly wonder, “Where do you go, after living in a palace for almost a century? Is there a better place?”
The Psalmist says,
“As for man, his days are like grass;
As a flower of the field, so he flourishes.
When the wind has passed over it, it is no more,
And its place acknowledges it no longer”.
“Show me, LORD, my life’s end and the number of my days; let me know how fleeting my life is. You have made my days a mere handbreadth; the span of my years is as nothing before you. Everyone is but a mere breath, even those who seem secure.” “Surely everyone goes around like a mere phantom; in vain they rush about, heaping up wealth without knowing whose it will finally be. “But now, Lord, what do I look for? My hope is in you”, he ends the cry of his inner being.
Hope is a BIG word. Even Bigger is WHO you put your hope in. Can you hope beyond death? Even Queens at 96 and Kings at 99, don’t take anything with them and have to lay down their worldly crowns to enter the narrow path to Heaven. Jesus said “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.”
Have you found it yet? The narrow road to Eternal life! I pray that the Queen found it in her lifetime, walked on it and finds herself today in a place more beautiful than the palace!
Related Scriptures
John 5:24
Jesus says, “Whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life!”
John 11:25-26
Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die.”
Matthew 25:31-33
“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.
#juneandjesus #eternallife #narrowpath #beyondlife