Something to Think About: Just the Beginning
Reflections by Chuck Cluff, Atherton resident since 2004
1 Corinthians 2:9
What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived”— are the things God has prepared for those who love him.
Transcending aging involves seeing beyond this single short life. Is the end close, or is this actually just the beginning? What a difference these two views make. One view bemoans how little life is left, the other believes we are just getting off the starting blocks.
Think of the graduations children, youth and adults pass through. Have you watched a kindergarten ceremony, with certificates of promotion? Then elementary, junior high, high school, college, graduate school, and more if your profession required continued education. Each degree leads to something beyond the education, beyond the studies. Why we learn is so we will be more knowledgeable and efficient, more effective and useful. This life winds up with a final degree, a last promotion. From this planet we launch into a whole new adventure, in a place believers call heaven; A generic term for everything God has for us there. In heaven we will use all we have learned and experienced on earth. God has and is working in us not just for this life but also for what is to come.
Along the way more than a few of us have felt this life was more like Army boot camp; Tough stuff. Hard, with times we didn’t think we would make it. Given this, whatever God has in mind for us when we move on requires us to be rough, tough and ready. We will be seasoned and experienced residents. We won’t be softies, we’ve been in the trenches.
Will we be educators, advisers, mentors, entertainers, or other in the Kingdom of Heaven? Whatever, God will put our continuing selves to good use and we will love what we do. It will be a joy. Let’s keep our attention not on our weakening bodies, but rather on a faith seeing that knows how exciting our eternal future will be. This is just the beginning.
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