“I am God. And at the right time, I’ll make it happen.” (Isaiah 60:22 MSG)
What will God make happen? Complete restoration. The entirety of chapter 60 speaks about Jerusalem being set right: the light returning, the Temple being rebuilt, the children of Israel coming home and praise filling the whole place.
Last year I had to hack down all of our hydrangeas long before they bloomed. It was a brutal task; these flowers bring myriads of butterflies and turn the north side of the house into a perpetually happy place. But it had to happen; we needed access to the foundation while painting the house. These bushes were some of the many plants we cut back in order to bring restore our house to it’s former glory. I’ve been watching the wounded branches work their way back to life all summer; finally just now blooming, almost a full month late and a fraction of their usual contribution.
The Israelites and the hydrangeas have me wondering; what would full restoration look like in my life? In yours? For me, it would mean no more holes: no people blotted out by sin or by death or by broken relationship. It would mean a life bursting with purpose and praise. It would mean more fruit that weeds, more joy than sorrow, more hope than fear. Even as I write this, I realize that some restoration will not be complete until we all go Home: until a new heaven and a new earth eclipse this old worn out one. But that’s ok, it give us a goal, a destination to make our way towards. The hope of heaven is solidified in us, an anchor to drop upwards in the stormy sea of life on earth.
This was our conversation at lunch yesterday: how we don’t spend near enough time wondering about heaven. We get bogged down with what we can see and feel today instead of being lifted up by our hopes for the future. We (my husband, daughter and I) got to wondering what we might do in heaven, what desires and dreams we might have opportunities to fill. Rob wants to fly, of course. Not in a plane, but more like Superman, effortless and fast. Sarah wants to design; she wants the ideas in her head to become reality. I’d be content with access to a large library and unlimited art supplies. We all agreed, we’d have opportunities to glorify God in these activities.
Then we talked about my mother and how she truly was a renaissance woman. She had more interests than most people: she wanted to learn to fly small planes, to learn to play the bagpipes, wanted to design houses, wished she could become a master gardener, would like to write a book one day and she could sew/draw/paint/create just about anything you could think of. We came to the conclusion that our desires often outlive our frail bodies, and perhaps, this too, serves a purpose. We were created for far more than this life and we’ll carry those God-honoring longings into eternity.
We tend to get bogged down here. We forget that the next life is so much bigger and better than this one. We experience the effects of the fall and we become discouraged. Beloved, look further! Restoration is coming for us! Look beyond the limitations of this life, past the passing mist and begin assembling sweet anticipation of the life to come.
“Since you have been raised to new life with Christ, set your sights on the realities of heaven, where Christ sits in the place of honor at God’s right hand. Think about the things of heaven, not the things of earth.”
(Colossians 3:1-2 MSG)
Lord, please let the next life become more and more real to us as we set our minds in You direction. May we send treasure ahead. May our desire for Your Kingdom grow and our anticipation sweeten. Help us see past the disappointments and limitations of this life and fix ourselves on eternity with You. Amen.