So I am out in the front yard, trying my best to create a stone pathway alongside the driveway, when I hear this amazing melody coming out of the garage (I have Pandora going to keep me company in my labors.) It is familiar, but not common, and I pause with stepping stone in hand to try and identify it. The more I listen the more my soul is filled with a sense of wonder and even a 'brightness.' Before I know it, I have my hands in the air and tears are running down my cheeks and I am immersed in joyful praise and thanksgiving. It was just so wonderful!
I get up and go into the garage to finish listening and also try and find out what this wonderful piece of music is and who is performing it. Come to find out it was a variation,by Jennifer Thomas, of a piece that I first heard The Piano Guys perform called Beetoven's Five Secrets. I immediately got my wife, Pam, and we went in and watched the piece again. By the end we were both weeping with wonder and gratitude.
As I got back to work, I had the thought that this must be a lot like what the kingdom will be like. We are engaged in meaningful 'work,' building out what God has intended for the universe from the beginning; and in the midst of that we are surrounded by that which inspires and evokes a worship that fills us with almost unbearable gratitude and light.
I have to say that this is an incredibly heartening thought for me.
I freely admit that I have a tendency to spend a good deal of time slogging through the mire of everyday trials and tribulations -- it is the Eeyore in me! It is easy for me to feel worn down and overwhelmed by the cares and concerns that are common to our human experience. And I know that in the midst of that God is working to bring forth the fullness of transformative new life in me. But there is something deep in me that yearns for release into the profound...to be free from the weariness and worry of daily life and to fully experience 'eternal life.'
And so in that brief moment, working on the yet unfinished path, I experienced a Kingdom moment. It was as if God was graciously encouraging me and saying, "Keep going. Don't give up. Just a little while longer and the job will be complete and then you will enter into the full, eternal reality of what you are experiencing right now!"
And then the following quote from Dallas Willard came to mind:
"In any case, we should expect that in due time we will be moved into our eternal destiny of creative activity with Jesus and his friends and associates in the 'many mansions' of 'his Father's house.'
Thus, we should not think of ourselves as destined to be celestial bureaucrats, involved eternally in celestial 'administrivia.' That should be only slightly better than being caught in an everlasting church service. No, we should think of our destiny as being absorbed in a tremendously creative team effort, with unimaginably splendid leadership, on an inconceivably vast plane of activity, with ever more comprehensive cycles of productivity and enjoyment. This is the 'eye hath not seen, neither ear heard' that lies before us in the prophetic vision (Isa. 64:4).
Can you hear the music playing?
Abundant, overflowing blessings in this coming year...
Teacher, speaker, entrepreneur and follower of Christ; with a passion to be a catalyst for authentic community.