A song of my youth that Dale Evans and Roy Rogers planted in my memory bank; a song paired with a parting shot of them gently lumbering off into the sunset on horseback.

“Until we meet again”, the second line in the song, presented a hopeful farewell for the days to come; an optimistic belief that we would meet again.

“Happy trails to you” is repeated in the next line to encourage the listener that there can be a good journey ahead.

But, in recalling the next line, “Keep smiling until then” sparks the realization that I have clung to for much of my life, trying hard to put on a “happy face”, even when my “trails” were fraught with trials.

The end of the verse is another repetition of “Happy trails to you”, driving home their implied admonition to “smile, darn ya’, smile”.  But, even though these lyrics are embedded in my hippocampus, I know that, as this Advent “trail” unfolds, their words only scratch the surface of my life’s journey. I have matured. I have learned to follow another “way”. My road has become  a labyrinth, not a direct route.  It has led me to and through the stories of Jesus’ birth and into His life and His death. It has shown me that, although I may return to where I began on this labyrinthine walk, I am forever changed by the experiences of finding my faith along the way through my encounters with Jesus’ words and His deeds.  Jesus did not always “put on a happy face”, but He did offer the peace-filled hope that we will “meet again”.  Perhaps the word “Happy” in Dale’s and Roy’s song can be changed to “Peaceful” and “Keep smiling” can be replaced with “Keep believing”.  Then the smiles, and the tears, that I share with the world will be an authentic and, hopefully, loving example of a peaceful heart inspired first by the birth of a baby named Jesus.

🎶Peaceful trails to you,

Until we meet again.

Peaceful trails to you,

Keep believing until then.

Peaceful trails to you,

Until we meet again.

Shared by Susan Ceely Phillips