There’s a moment in every life when you start to wonder if the weight of the world is ever going to let up. It’s like a heavy, well-worn coat that you’ve been dragging around through the seasons—so long, in fact, that you almost forget what it feels like to walk free. That’s where we find old Charlie, standing on the back porch of his farmhouse, staring off into the sunset and humming the words that had been circling in his heart all day: “I'll fly away, O glory, I'll fly away…”
The Burden of Earthly Troubles
Charlie wasn’t a man prone to complaining, but life hadn’t been easy on him lately. In his 78 years, he had seen good times and bad, but this season? Well, it had been especially rough. His body ached from the years of farming, and ever since Mary, his beloved wife of 50 years, passed away, there was an emptiness that hung in the air—quiet and constant.
The bills piled up, his kids were busy with their own families, and the work he once loved now felt like a daily reminder that time was ticking away, slow but steady. But there was something in that old gospel song, something that stirred in Charlie’s soul every time he heard it.
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