Jay and I have been asked to help with a video project. We will have the pleasure of listening to a variety of people tell their stories about their life and share what they learned.
As our team has worked together to consider interview questions, it has prompted me to reflect on my own journey.
When told about the project, a friend commented, “Yes, it is interesting to look back at the events of life from a different time angle. We can look at the same events and see them differently at different times in our life.”
That is so true.
Some things I once considered catastrophic hardly take up any space in my thoughts now.
Some things that were particularly challenging taught me valuable lessons for the rest of my life.
Some things were treasures and I missed the joy at the time. Now through the lens of this time, I wish I could go back and fully appreciate those moments.
The process of growth allows us to see life from different angles. As we get taller, while the ground gets further away, we are able to see more of the world around us.
We get to do new things, experience new challenges and find new treasures to enjoy.
I think Heaven will be the ultimate growth spurt. Paul says,
“Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed— in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed!”
1 Corinthians 15:51-52
Heaven is frequently referred to as a place to which we rise. I wonder if we will have a chance to look back over our earthly life as we rise … and see it all in perspective … things we never understood, clear at last.
Perhaps we will get to see where our story fit among the millions of stories of God on earth. Perhaps, as Ruth Bell Graham wrote, we will have a time to adore.
Time to Adore
And when I die
I hope my soul ascends
slowly,
so that I
may watch the earth receding
out of sight,
its vastness growing smaller as I rise,
savoring its recession with delight.
Anticipating joy is itself a joy.
And joy unspeakable
and full of glory needs more
than “in the twinkling of an eye,”
more than “in a moment.”
Lord, who am I to disagree?
It’s only we have much to leave behind;
so much … Before.
These moments of transition
will, for me,
be time to adore.
Amen!
