I woke up sick yesterday morning, putting the kibosh on assorted fun weekend adventures, including nighttime kayaking in Tampa and Peter Pan at the theater. Things didn't go according to plan, but these are luxury problems and minor disappointments. They don’t amount to much in the big scheme of things.
Last night, a friend called to tell me that her young son didn't want to visit his father for the summer because “he hurts me.” Many questions later, she got an emergency restraining order and is now scrambling to find affordable summer childcare while coping with unspeakable stuff. That's messed up.
Another acquaintance lost her middle-aged daughter in a matter of weeks when her aggressive cancer returned after being in remission for years. Heartbreak.
Some of you recently shared assorted regrets, things you can’t seem to forgive yourself for that can’t be undone. Others are coping with persistent challenges, sudden reversals, chronic pain, or unexpected health problems--theirs and others'.
Read the headlines to see so many other big things in the world that aren’t as they “should” be in a bewildering assortment of random ways.
The good news is things aren’t what they will be one day, either.
I’m often reminded that this world isn’t as God designed it, a perfect paradise of matchless beauty and loving harmony, but one day it will be. This world isn’t our home, and there’s a deep, nameless longing for that perfection we can’t seem to attain here.
As good as life can sometimes be, there’s always something amiss!
Paul reminds us that our citizenship is in heaven, where we’ll have “glorious” bodies that we’ll slip into like pretty new dresses. Now you're talking!
I treasure revisiting the glimpses of heavenly landscapes from the several near-death accounts I’ve written, all echoing unspeakable love, light, and beauty.
Down the pike, we’re also assured that this very planet will be restored to a better-than-ever perfect state, lions with lambs. I’m told we'll simply dash off to our favorite destinations by heavenly propulsion, bathed in blissful union.
Regardless, all the nonsense we endure down here will POOF!! be entirely forgotten in the twinkling of an eye.
God calls it “groaning,” a homesickness for a place and time that is free of regret and sorrow. The whole earth groans. Doesn’t it sure seem that way? This longing is hardwired into us, the God-shaped hole that aches for fulfillment only eternity can completely satisfy.
This side of heaven, we sometimes face things that don’t make sense to us or anyone. Things that are fundamentally wrong.
We’re promised that one day Christ will judge the living and the dead and right every wrong.
“He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away."
“He who was seated on the throne said, ‘I am making everything new!’ Then he said, ‘Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.’ Revelation 21:4-5 (NIV)
Amen. Thank You, God. I love You.
Friend, keep looking UP!
