Everything

I have the privilege of teaching Bible to two of my little grandsons this school year. They come over, cuddle up next to me, listen, ask questions, then we work on their memory verse for the week. Then we play. They each get their own day. It is joy.

Before my husband passed away, I always thought it would be him that would be pouring into their little hearts during the elementary years. That 6-11 year-old time was his favorite. I was the baby/toddler/preschool grammy. Their kind of play – throwing the ball, working on ‘stuff’ in the garage, foot races – grammy is neither athletic nor good at fixing things. Yet it is joy.

Ecclesiastes, for the most part, is depressing. There are little jewels hidden amongst all the verses of woe. This is the one on repeat in my heart right now. Usually only the first part of the verse is quoted. We would do well to treasure and ponder the verse in its whole. Therein lies true joy.

“He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end.” (Ecclesiastes 3:11 NIV) Solomon, wisest of men, wrote this book while lost in figuring out what the purpose of life is, to him so much seemed meaningless. But God kept breaking through those thoughts as the Holy Spirit guided his writing. And this was one of those verses where Solomon remembered, this life isn’t all there is – but this life is meant to be lived well, to glorify our Creator.

Loss is part of life. I have been made well aware of that this year. Whether it’s a husband, child, parent, sibling, close friend – our hearts break. There is nothing/no one to put the pieces back together. Where is the beauty in this?

I want to share a quote with you from a little book that every widow should have. No matter who you can no longer hug, talk to, be with, this quote is what our loved one would want us to know. The book is: A Widow’s Journey by Gayle Roper. Towards the end of it she is speaking of imagining life as a line that has a beginning and an end. One day as you’re walking that line, tragedy strikes and your loved one is gone.

We often get stuck at that place on our line. Always looking back yearning for what was. “Now picture the one we’ve lost. He is not at that point in our life lines where we lost him. He is at the end of the line, waiting for us. He’s calling to us, ‘Hey, sweetheart, I’m not back there where all your attention is focused. I’m here at the end waiting for you. Turn around and move forward. Come toward me. Find purpose. Learn to dance again. Christ came to give you life abundant. Look forward, my love, beyond the future. The best is yet to come.’ “

You see, all my writing has been about the second part of our verse for today. Eternity. God tells us right in this verse that He put eternity in our hearts. When I spoke at my husband’s memorial service, I ended with saying my husband would want them to know “The best is yet to come.” That is truth, that is joy, that is everything we need to know to navigate life now.