On Time
Time is a thief and a giver. We are not far from the edge of our eternal home. Waiting, hoping, being pulled to and from grief, we go on our way. Then time returns to take us captive. If only for a moment or a day, she will not let us go. The past is her disguise and the future her revolver, threatening to undo us from reality. We cling to our loves, those closest to us, but they too evade from our hearts as quickly as they came, as if we were taunted by their warm departure. She sits on the headstone of someone you love. Someone your father and mother loved. She gives us new life, each new little soul a source of radiant energy. But with it comes much pain, much sickness, and sleepless nights. The passing joy of a favorite meal, and a book you cannot put down, they too wither and lose their allure.
The great oak is eventually cut down and used for firewood, if not left to rot.
Looking to the Light
However, we are not left to wallow in our dour state. Let us not be led to despair or deceived into settling for a mere material existence. We are made for much more. We are made in God’s image. Let us look to the King who trampled the grave. There is much work to be done. God’s work through our fingertips is a good place to start.
Meanwhile, where are we to look after meditating on these mysteries? How are we to follow the spirit that gives its radiant light? How much pain can we endure? It is not you enduring pain if you are dead to yourself. It is Christ who endures the pain. The Holy Spirit will guide you, giving you inclinations from the written words of Scripture. Turn from your sin, which leads to bitterness, and receive forgiveness. Do it quickly and often. He will never stop searching for you. He will not let his sheep go too far.
How are we to assemble ourselves and find rest after finding that our works do not pass God’s judgement? By finding comfort in the fact that when God looks at you, he sees Christ. He is bringing you to greener pastures and has given you a plow to push. The radiant light is imputed to us. Let us do good a thousand times, a hundred thousand times, and keep repeating it by his strength. His strength is a living strength, a living well that continually shoots forth new water. Drink from the vastness of this well and let it satisfy. Let it quench your deepest thirsts, the deepest caverns of your soul. Like a heavy rain that fills up the ditches and washes out into the road let your heart be flooded as such with his mercies. Let it be washed over you completely.
Calling Us Home
Then the final bells of time will ring. Calling you home, as you transfer out of this world of darkness into the light in its fullness. Let this be a time of great expectation and excitement. Let Christ’s resurrection and your own be one, so you rely on the unshakable hope of His promises. It is not you or I any longer, but His Spirit through us that will lead to our eternal home. The place of long-awaited rest. The place of completed glory. No more disappointment, tears, or sorrow. The place of warm, radiant light.
