Esto fidelis - Be faithful

Esto fidelis usque ad mortem et dabo tibi coronam vitae

Be faithful unto death and I will give you the crown of life. 

- Revelation 2:10

Someone asked me once what I thought of fidelity, to which I replied 'Faithful unto death' and I meant it then as I mean it now; that is both in personal terms and spiritual terms, though in my increasing years I have understood that it is not all that easy in either realm. I learned that verse in Latin because it was written around the inner circle of the chapel dome at my school; I would look at it virtually every day and think what a beautiful sentiment it was. It is beautiful but it is also hard, how many of us want to put down that which we say we are faithful to when the going gets tough? How many of us still live in fidelity to the promises we made when they become harder to stick to, it was easy to be faithful when we made those promises but in the face of death or hardships don't we consider giving up that fidelity?

Those words were given to a number of people separately remembering a friend of mine, of ours, a friend from the hard places, those dark places of life where special treasures are found. That person is gone but their fidelity unto death remains to speak to us all. Fidelity and being faithful can be so hard but it is so worth striving for with every sinew of being. Worth striving for not just for the crown of life but for now too, for the value of honouring what you have committed to, honouring those that you love and respect and encounter on the journey.

Esto fidelis usque ad mortem...