Up-Hill

In numerous sermons, I have recounted the famous incident of Churchill in a fox-hole during WWI. He was as afraid & disillusioned as a human soul can be…& contemplating desertion from the army. He wrote of his miserable condition & confusing thoughts to his love back home…Clementine. She speedily returned a letter to him that quoted their favorite poem by Rosetti. It is also 1 of my all-time favorites…& has often been an instrument of the Spirit of God to encourage my heart while instilling resolve…as it did with Sir Winston Churchill.

Up-Hill

Does the road wind up-hill all the way?
Yes, to the very end.
Will the day's journey take the whole long day?
From morn to night, my friend.

But is there for the night a resting-place?
A roof for when the slow dark hours begin.
May not the darkness hide it from my face?
You cannot miss that inn.

Shall I meet other wayfarers at night?
Those who have gone before.
Then must I knock, or call when 'ust in sight?
They will not keep you standing at that door.

Shall I find comfort, travel-sore and weak?
Of labor you shall find the sum.
Will there be beds for me and all who seek?
Yea, beds for all who come.

-by Christina Rosetti

This poem (as is often said by critics & admirers), is an allegory…which is a type of poetry that is meant to convey a message or doctrine by using people, places or things to stand for abstract ideas. Rosetti had a very strong belief in the afterlife. Now read the poem again & think of the road as the journey of life & the respondent who answers the questions as God. So in the first stanza the traveler asks, “Does the road wind uphill all the way?” (Is the journey of life uphill all the way?) & God answers "Yes, to the very end" (death). The traveler then asks, "Will the day's journey take the whole long day?" (Will there be any rest during the day from my long journey) God answers no, you will struggle from beginning to end. Then the traveler asks "But is there for the night a resting-place" (Is there life after death) God Answers, "You cannot miss the Inn" (Heaven)...you can figure out the rest.

This is an accurate interpretation in many ways; however, more pertinent to me, is applying the poem as a prophetic call to embrace the principle & power of the Cross of Christ. That makes the Hill a struggle with the obedience of faith & the desire to be a faithful witness.

The “HILL” is our wrestling with the world, flesh & devil; & the “REST” is the fruit & experience that accompanies a revelation of the finished work of HIS cross!!!