The lesson is the same as when Moses looked to the Promised Land and told Israel that the land was their future. This future hope is guaranteed because Jesus rose from the dead, ascended into heaven, and will lead us to heaven. And so life, we find, is an almost constant back and forth. Our emotions can be high and the next minute they can be low. We find ourselves living in hope and then plunged into despair.
Holidays can be lousy.
Grief rips the heart out of us. We find ourselves encamped in mourning and hopelessness. In all these shifting emotions, there is one Rock. Cause me to live now as I shall wish I had done when I come to die. O grant that I may not die with any guilt on my conscience, or any known sin unrepented of, but that I may be found in Christ, who is my only Savior and Redeemer.